Summer's Shadow
by Jeffjway
Summary: Summer Camp was canceled. Taylor Hebert had no other plans except to hang out with her best friend all day, everyday. Then she finds herself right next to the Barnes' as their car gets stopped by the ABB in a tight alleyway. OCs are just for me to have fun, Taylor power-switch story.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – Despair**

"I don't know why they cancelled it, Emma. I didn't make any other plans for summer."

Summer Camp had been cancelled. No reason was given, just a post in the mail telling us that there was not going to be any summer camp this year and all payments that were already made were to be refunded to us by a cheque in the post. I had spent years trying to get permission from my dad to go to Summer Camp, to have it taken away from me when my dad finally said yes was devastating.

"It's not that bad, Taylor. At least it means that we can spend summer together. My dad's always busy at work fighting some case or something and mum's just as busy with all the social events she organises. I'm surprised I'm such a well-adjusted kid given the lack of parental support in my life." Emma smiled at her own joke and wrapped her arm around my shoulders in a gesture of reassuring comfort.

Emma was my best friend in the world. She and I have been through a lot. From surviving grade school together, crying on each others' shoulders whenever we get punished by our parents for bad grades to her helping me handle the death of my mother. I had cried non-stop in her arms when it happened. Nothing could break us apart. Our bond of friendship grows stronger with each difficulty we encounter together. Now that I'm not going to Summer Camp this year, maybe we can see if we can build on our bond, strengthen it. Especially now that the both of us were about to start high school in Winslow together in about two more months or so, it'll be us against the rest of the student population, Thelma and Louise, Bonnie and Clyde. Well, if Clyde was female, I guess.

"You sure I can't get your dad to sue them for emotional damages?" I quipped.

Emma giggled and replied "I'm quite sure. Even if my dad is willing to try, Mrs Dallon, his boss, would never let him. They told you of the cancellation ahead of time and have already offered to refund all fees. And besides, how much emotional damage will you suffer spending time with me?"

"Depends if I have to suffer through another viewing of Mean Girls with you, I think I can recite all the lines in the script given the number of times you had me watch it with you over the years." I whined.

I turned and saw Emma's scandalised look on her face and smirked. Then we both broke out laughing, making the other people walking along the Boardwalk turn and look at us like we were crazed girls. Maybe we were.

"Come on, let's get you out of this melancholic rut you're in with some clothes shopping." Emma said suddenly, pulling me in the direction of the nearest boutique. Melancholic rut? Didn't we just laugh over a joke I just made? Either she's not good at psychology or I must really been whining a lot recently. I vote the former.

"But.. but .. I hate clothes shopping, all you want is an excuse to buy clothes for yourself" I protested not-so-firmly as I tried to pull in the other direction

"You know me all too well, Taylor. All too well." Emma said, pulling harder. I gave up and followed her into the store.

Emma and I spent the next few days together hanging out at the park, doing up each other's hair (her red hair was much nicer than my dark locks), comparing notes about boys in the library and soon I stopped thinking about Summer Camp and how much it could have changed my life going to it. I just basked in the warmth of friendship and happiness, healing from the deep scars of hurt that were inside me since my mother's car accident last year.

The smile that was on my face did not go unnoticed by my dad when I came home after a sleep-over at Emma's.

"Guess I was right about not sending you to summer camp all this while, Taylor. You sure seem a lot happier then you were two weeks ago." My dad winked from across the breakfast table.

"Dad! I'm just happier because I have a great friend in Emma who know how to comfort me in my times of need. I do hope I can repay her for all that she's done for me one day." I said, not letting his jibe get to me.

My dad's face changed for a second and he looked at me straight in the eye. "Taylor, are you and Emma… err… how can I put this…together?"

What?! Did he just say what I think he said?

"Dad!" I shouted out, scandalised "I'm not… We are… I mean, no. We aren't together. We are the best of friends and we both like boys. Whatever made you say something like that?!"

Danny Hebert's eyes twinkled and he pointed at his daughter with his cereal-laden spoon.

"So… you like boys, huh? Guess it's time for me to give you The Talk." He said seriously, though a smile was about to escape his otherwise serious looking face.

"DAD! Stop making fun of me!" I got out of my chair, covered my reddening face with my hands and rushed out of the kitchen. As I ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind me, I distinctly heard my dad's laughter echoing through the house.

I hated it that my dad could get to me so easily. I thought back to what Emma said a few days ago and shook my head. *I'm* surprised *I'm* such a well-adjusted kid given the fact my dad is trying so hard to cover the job of two parents, from the verbal pokes to the over-protectiveness he exudes sometimes, how does he expect me to be a sane individual?

Emma brought me along to a birthday day party one day so that I could get to know more people. The birthday girl, Christine, or 'Chris' as Emma calls her, was a couple of years older than Emma and I and schooled over at Arcadia where all the Wards were rumoured to have gone. So, naturally, I was soon caught up in cape talk with some of Christine's schoolmates while Emma went to the restroom.

"So, given that most of the people invited are from Arcadia, do you think there are any Wards here?" a girl in a red summer dress asked openly.

"Nah, Christine doesn't like capes at all, thinks they are so uncouth. All that fighting and all is work for 'lowly types', not 'upper-class' material. I don't think she would be friends with any of the Wards" another girl in white replied in a snotty voice

"But isn't that the best cover for a cape? I mean, no one would suspect a cape is friends with someone that against capes. For all you know Christine's a cape and her distaste for capes is just distraction to hide that fact" a rather muscular guy rebutted. The more I looked at him, the more I think I've seen him somewhere before.

"So, what do you think?" he turned to me and said, just as I was checking out his biceps. I must have blushed bright red as I stammered "I… er… I think for every cape that believes in trying to maintain a 'cover' in public, so to speak, there is a cape that just plays it simple and just plain does not attract any attention. So there is no hard and fast rule to figure out who is or is not a cape just by examining a person's behaviour in public or preferences."

"Very good point. Very good. I've never seen you in Arcadia before, are you Christine's friend from outside of school?" he asked, his bright blue eyes staring straight at me.

I started to sweat at the attention I was garnering from not only the guy but also from the other people in the group. "I'm… well, just a friend of a friend."

He smiled and put out his hand to shake. "Glad to meet you then, I'm Rory, Rory Christner."

Christner. That's the Mayor's name. I'm making a fool of myself in front of the Mayor's son.

"I'm Taylor. Taylor Hebert." I said softly as I shook his hand, hoping that my face wasn't beet red. Given how hot I was feeling all of a sudden, I think it was a lost cause.

Emma waved at me from across the room desperately so I hurriedly, and somewhat embarrassingly, excused myself from the Mayor's son and walked briskly towards Emma.

"Come on, Taylor. Let's leave and go do some shopping, the sanitation system there in that house is so old and terrible. Don't know how Christine can actually survive in this house" Emma declares out loud once we leave the party. I blink and just follow her, my mind still trying to process the fact that I not only was talking to the Mayor's son, I was caught checking out his muscles. Dad is going to mock me silly if he gets to hear about this.

The rest of the day went by quite quickly with Emma getting 5 new dresses and me getting sore feet from all the walking around. Ah, what would I do without a friend to get me out of the trouble I get myself into. I really need to repay her for not only the dresses, but also for being my friend.

The days slowly passed and I started to not care that the calendar on my bedroom wall showed that I should have been at summer camp, rowing across a lake or down some waterfall, most likely only able to gossip about the people in camp to Emma over the phone. Now, instead of all that I was going to accompany her on one of her modelling interview things, something she calls "Open Call" or something. I know I don't have the goods or the looks to be a model, but she wanted me there to give her moral support.

I didn't know why it had to be held at night though, but she promised dinner after. Mr Barnes, Emma's dad was good friends with mine and it was easy to get permission to go with them. My Dad would have even come along if he didn't have some major Dock Union pow-wow session this evening to attend.

So here I was, waiting in front of my house to get picked up in Emma's dad's car, wondering what I did to deserve a friend like Emma. She had been my moral support all this while and she needs*me* to be around her to support her? I'm going to do my very best to be her bestest of friends, she deserves nothing less. The feeling that this day was going to be the first day in a whole new life for me had been in my mind since the morning and it made me happy. Maybe the modelling agency would think I was good enough to be a teen model too and life would never be the same again.

I watched as Mr Barnes' car come down the road and stopped in front of me, Emma was saying something to her dad from the back seat as she opened the car door to let me in "…. androgyne is cool, dad. It's, like, *the* thing in modelling….. Hiya, Taylor, jump on in."

As I climbed into the car to seat beside her, Emma turned back to her dad and continued "I could never cut my hair short, but if some major magazine or fashion designer wanted me to, I might consider it. Will miss my hair though."

"What do you think, Taylor? Should I be willing to cut my beautiful tresses if Elle magazine asked me to?" Emma asked as she focused back on me.

Soon we were discussing hair styles and dye colours that would look good on her or me and became completely oblivious to everything else as we drove down past Chinatown until I heard Mr Barnes call out "Girls!"

We both looked up at what Emma's dad was looking at and I saw that our car had come to a stop in the middle of a narrow one-way street. A dumpster had been shifted to block the end of the alley. Blocking not only the way out, but also the light from the street ahead. Then, suddenly, bright red lights flashed from behind us, tinting the alleyway crimson.

I spun around to look out of the back window and saw a white van had stopped at the other end of the alley, its red tail-lights glowing bright in the night. We were trapped in the alleyway, between a dumpster and a van, a virtual Scylla and Charybdis. A group of Asian-Americans slid over the hood of the van and into the alleyway, casting weird shadows on the walls as they pulled out knives and baseball bats into view.

The ABB! It was the ABB! Half my mind wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, the other half wanted to just crawl below the back seat and hide. I sat there paralysed in fear and indecision on how to save my life as Emma started to whimper and shake beside me.

Mr Barnes shouted "Hold tight!" and stepped on the gas, moving the car slowly towards the dumpster.

 _Go! Go!_ I screamed in my mind. Wondering why the car wasn't going any faster.

Mr Barnes made the car just touch against the dumpster then floored the gas pedal and tried to shove the dumpster out of the way through pure horse power. The screech of rubber on asphalt filled my ears and I ducked my head between my legs in what passed for a 'landing position' in those airplane safety videos.

The dumpster didn't budge. Not an inch.

I lifted up my head between my legs just as Mr Barnes shouted out "Call the police,"

I didn't have a cellphone. My dad never let me have one due to the fact my mom died driving while making a call.

My mom. I wondered if I was going to see her again tonight in Heaven.

Emma didn't move. "Girls! Call the police!" Mr Barnes repeated loudly and insitantly.

Emma's hands shook with fear as she fumbled for her phone and her fingers trembled as she tried to use it. I ignored all sense of courtesy and snatched the phone from her trembling hands and jammed the numbers 9-1-1 as fast as I could.

But just as I lifted the phone to my ear and heard "Hello, BBPD, how ma…", the window to my right shattered and glass flew everywhere.

I screamed.


	2. Chapter 2 – Apathy

**Chapter 2 – Apathy**

Emma wondered why she felt so … so… bored with life.

She was about to start high school in a just over a month, she had a few modelling jobs lined up and her best friend didn't disappear to Summer Camp like she had expected. Taylor being around the last couple of weeks made her happier, less apathetic to all the things that were going on.

Emma felt lost. She felt that she had no direction, no driving force in life. She woke up every day without much to look forward to. Everything was so… so… normal, so uninteresting. All except for Taylor. Emma felt joy when she was with Taylor, not something like romantic love, not even sisterly love. What Emma felt when she talked to Taylor was what she classified to yourself as 'Motherly love'.

Ever since Taylor's mother Anne Rose Hebert has died last year, Emma had comforted Taylor, listened to her complain about the world and the injustice in it, wiped Taylor's tears as she cried for hours whenever she thought of her mother and force fed her when she refused to eat.

Emma found her purpose in caring for Taylor and being there for her. That's what she really, truly, wanted to do each day. Not all the modelling, the socialising, all the things her dad kept wanting her to do to teach her about 'high society' and hobnobbing to get ahead in life. All of those things were meaningless stuff. All she wanted was to care, to encourage the fallen, to give love.

Admittedly, Emma once liked all the activities, the attention, the friends. But since the time she had to hold Taylor as she cried herself to sleep for a straight week right after the funeral, when Taylor refused to return home for fear of seeing something that reminded her of her mother, Emma's priorities changed. All the parties, the dancing, the horse-riding, everything paled to being there for someone, caring for that person in their time of need. Maybe she could be a counsellor next time when she grew up, maybe a stay-at-home mom? A sudden life-changing event, albeit not her own, had changed her priorities, Emma hoped that there won't be another any time soon to shift her priorities again soon, or ever.

Taylor had slowly gotten better over the months, drawing on the bond of friendship between Emma and her to recover and heal and Emma soon saw that Taylor was close to returning to being the person she once was before her mother's death. Sadness crept into her heart slowly as the notion that Taylor may not need her anymore entered her mind. When Taylor had told her one day that she had signed up for a Summer Nature Camp, Emma had to bite her lip and clench her fist under the table to keep herself smiling and acting happy for Taylor. Was this what a mother felt when her little child flew the nest and into the great big world? Was she feeling the beginnings of Empty Nest Syndrome before she herself left her nest? It felt weird and disorientating.

Emma was so glad when Taylor's Summer Camp was cancelled for unknown reasons, she could plan shopping trips, sleep-overs and go to all the socialising events with her instead of alone. Life was a bit better. She could breathe again. She had a purpose.

Emma looked out of the car door window as her dad drove them over to the Heberts' to pick up Taylor before they went for one of Emma's modelling calls. She saw all the buildings along the roadside, from apartment blocks to brownstones to white-picket-fenced houses, all looking the same, all as lifeless and damaged. All diseased with the same illness that plagued their inhabitants, a resistance to change, a resistance to actually being interesting.

Only the parahumans in Brockton Bay, the capes, were interesting, were able to break the normalcy of day-to-day life and be something more than slaves to work and drudgery. Emma wished she could be a cape, or at least be friends with one and listen to the interesting things that would happen in the day of a cape. But she wasn't either of the above.

That was why Emma hated being in Brockton bay. Seeing all the capes about her just made the pain of living her own hum-drum live all the more apparent. Taylor was the only thing that could made living in Brockton Bay worth it, but if Taylor didn't need her anymore… Emma would not know what she would do.

Emma was brought out of her musings as her father rather irritably asked her "Ballet, horseback riding, modeling classes or violin. Pick one, Emma. _One_."

It was her dad's asking her the sixth time this week to choose something to do this last month of holidays before she started high school. Something to 'train her ability to live in high society' or something like that. She was sick of it.

"Or, or, or, maybe I don't pick any, and…" Emma replied in a tone that was as irritated as her dad's was

"And?" her father's voice carried a hint of weariness as he cut his daughter off.

Emma sighed as she and her father argued over what classes to take. Were not all the swimming and ballroom dance lessons enough? Only the fact that she was about to see Taylor, spend some girl time with Taylor, kept her from blowing up fully at her dad. No sense starting the evening out with her best friend on a bad note due to an argument with her dad.

"Dad, how about this. I sign up for violin classes and you let me keep my hair long without pestering me to cut it to a pixie cut" she tried to bargain. Emma was getting very sick her dad asking her to be rid of her long red tresses for her 'Public Image'. She just wanted some control over her life, her own choices as to what has happening to herself, not things dictated to her by her parents that she just HAD to do to be someone worth something in society.

"What? No. Think of your image, how the others at the Club will see you. You need to portray a more vibrant persona, not a image of a wallflower." Emma's father countered.

Emma heaved a sigh of relief as she saw, in the distance, Taylor standing on the curb in front of her house, bouncing up and down and smiling brightly at their car's approach, all ready to hop into the back seat with Emma. Taylor. Her source of colour in this world of mad bleakness.

"Dad. Look, I get it. Image and presentation. But I love my hair and how it feels around my face. It don't as if I don't understand androgyne is cool, dad. It's, like, *the* thing in modelling." Emma pasued her argument with her dad as she opened the car door to let Taylor in with a quick "Hiya, Taylor, jump on in." The smile on Taylor's face erased the gloominess Emma had a few minutes ago and filled her heart with sunshine.

With Taylor now in the car, Emma tried to end the argument she was having with her dad fast. "I could never cut my hair short, but if some major magazine or fashion designer wanted me to, I might consider it. Will miss my hair though." _Take the win and the hint dad. Not in front of Taylor, ok?_ Emma tried to telepathically tell her dad through her eyes.

"What do you think, Taylor? Should I be willing to cut my beautiful tresses if Elle magazine asked me to?" Emma asked Taylor, turning to her. Taylor looked utterly confused at Emma and answered "I don't see you with any other hairstyle besides this one. I think it's great, wish I could have hair like yours." Emma smiled at Taylor's oh-so-innocent look and soon Taylor and Emma were discussing hair styles, dye colours and the latest modelling news when Emma's dad cried out "Girls!" very sharply.

Emma looked up with a jolt and saw the car had stopped in the middle of a narrow one-way street. A huge dumpster had been moved to block the far end of the alley they were in. Turning, Emma saw down the other end of the alleyway was a white van which had clearly just stopped there, the taillights glowing angrily. A group of twenty-something Asian-Americans scrambled out of the van, over the hood and into the alley, approaching menacingly. Their colours and tattoos showed them clearly as members of the ABB.

 _This isn't supposed to happen in broad daylight_ , Emma thought.

 _Serves me right for asking for an interesting life just now. I take it back, God, I take it back._ A whimper escaped her lips as her mind tried to grasp the situation.

Emma heard her father shout "Hold tight!" as the car lurched forwards towards the dumpster. Emma grabbed tight to the inside door handle as panic raced through her mind. _Why was the car so slow? Why is this happening? What?... Why?..._

The car hit the dumpster ahead and then Emma saw her dad floor the accelerator with all his might, to try to push the dumpster out of the way, out of alley. The dumpster did not budge an inch. _The dumpster, they must have blocked it with something, maybe taken the wheels off, maybe both. Blocked it. No wheels. Blocked. No wheels._ Emma's mind repeated the words over and over, still unable to get traction on the situation fully.

The tattooed gangsters closed in on the stuck car. Emma caught the sadistic laughter of one of them echo in the alleyway. Sweat started to bead all over her forehead.

 _Laughter. Trapped. Help. Not enough space. Can't back up to ram._

Emma heard her dad shout out "Call the police" but somehow it didn't register. She heard the words but they didn't make any sense to her.

 _Police. Help. Stuck. Dad_.

Her dad shouted again, breaking her out of her stunned state "Girls! Call the police!" Emma reached into her pocket, her hands trembling and shaking uncontrollably. Emma blinked hard as blood pounded in her ears and she tried her best to see the number-pad on her phone.

Emma lifted a shaking finger to aim for the '9' on the phone when suddenly Taylor ripped the phone out of her hands and dialled '911' quickly before lifting the phone to her ear.

 _Taylor. Not shaking. Calm. Why?_

Emma sat there, still shaking as Taylor made the call. Why was Taylor not as scared as her? Wasn't she the one that should be taking care of Taylor? Why could Taylor make the call when she couldn't? Wasn't Taylor the weaker one? What is…

The shattering of glass from behind her jerked her out of her thought processes and a hand roughly grabbed her by the hair as the door beside her was pulled open by a second person who had reached in the window to open the door from the inside. Emma screamed at the top of her lungs and kicked at her assailant wildly as images of glass cuts scarring her face and of stories she had heard about what happened to pretty girls kidnapped by the gangs.

Emma's desperate kicks only served to help her attacker drag her out of the car and the impact of her back on hard asphalt once she was clear of the car knocked all her breath out of her. Emma now wished that she did up her seatbelt. She could hear her dad cursing and pleading to be let go and Taylor screaming and someone with an Asian accent cursing in pain, but all that Emma was focused on when she opened her eyes was the knife in front of her face, glinting red in the light of the ABB van's tail-lights and the three Asians, all with scarves and bandanas covering their features.

"Turn over, ginger bitch," one of the gangsters, a girl by the voice, standing above her said. The order was punctuated by a sharp kick to Emma's ribs. Emma didn't even hesitate to follow the command and flipped over with a whimper.

 _Not the face! Not the face! Please not the face!_

Emma's arms were pulled up behind her and calloused hands took hold of her jacket and pulled it off, hard. Emma gasped in pain as the sleeves of her jacket rubbed against her skin like sandpaper.

 _Jacket. Costs a lot. Don't tear it_. Emma thought, her mind grasping at the only notion that she could handle.

"We could send this bitch out of town," one of the gangsters said. "Stick her in one of the farms and hold her there for a while. She's got tits, could even auction her off." Emma panicked when she heard that, they were going to sell her as a prostitute? _No! No! They can't!_ Emma began to try to crawl away, hoping they would be distracted by the jacket and the discussion of her fate.

"Don't be a moron. White girl goes missing, they look." Another gangster added in before he shouted "Hey, the girl's trying to get away!"

Emma scrambled to her feet and tried to get start running, but she was not fast enough. The gangster that saw her try to escape had already closed the distance and grabbed her by her hair, ripping more than a few strands out of her scalp.

 _Maybe there's something to this short hair idea…_ Emma thought as she was jerked back. The gangster's hand wrapped itself around her skull and forcefully shoved her face into the alley wall. Pain echoed through Emma's head as her forehead took the impact on the brick wall and she felt something warm trickle down past her eyes as she was spun forcefully to face the gangster. He growled angrily at her and his hands moved to grab Emma by her neck.

"Bitch! You dare to try to run away?! You will pay for even thinking of doing that. Kneel!" Emma was pushed forcefully down to the ground by the gangster and she landed hard, scrapping her legs and arms on the jagged ground, causing her to yell out in pain. The gangster laughed.

"You have good voice, girl. I love to hear victims yell out when I have fun with them." He said menacingly with a rather creepy smile as he reached for the zip in his jeans.

Emma shrank back against the wall in fear and horror, when suddenly a loud scream filled the alleyway. She looked past the gangster in front of her and saw a shadowy figure attacking the ABB members with kicks and punches, not in what seemed to Emma as any form of martial arts, but desperation. Emma shrieked as a thug moved to stab the shadowy person from behind, only to fall right through the shadow.

 _A cape_! Emma's heart soared as hope and elation filled her. She was rescued!

The gangster in front of Emma quickly pulled out a gun from the small of his back and aimed it at the shadow person. The shadow seemed to startle for a moment before diving off to the side and disappearing totally into the darkness just as the gangster fired off a shot.

Suddenly, from Emma's left, a dark streak leaps out of a dark corner and tackles the gangster in front of Emma to the ground and begins to pound his head with its fists. The ABB gangster tries to bring his gun to bear under the assault while fending off the blows with his other hand, but the shadowy creature increases its pummelting and, in seconds, the gangster's arms go limp and his gun clatters to the floor.

The Shadow turned its body to face Emma and Emma shrieked out in terror and fear as it walked closer to her.

The shadow began to shimmer and shift as it knelt down in front of Emma.

 _It's going to kill me! Silence me! God Save Me!_ Emma screamed in her mind.

The shadow's form began to take on a more humanly colour as it put its hand on Emma's shoulders gently and opened its mouth "Emma, it's alright now. I took care of them. It's me, Taylor".

The shadow had shifted into the form of Taylor Hebert.


	3. Chapter 3 - Aggravation

Disclaimer: Worm and the Parahuman Universe is own by Wildbow. I just play with it.

SandSasori - I'm sorry. I will try to do better.

JumperPrime - Yes, this is a Power Switch. and thus switching has happened. but It does not mean ceratin people have to be at certain places at a certain time, especially if things have changed in their lives. What causes a person to trigger a Master Power as opposed to a Breaker Power?

 **Chapter 3 – Aggravation**

Calloused hands grabbed me by the hair and shoulders, and dragged me out of the car through the broken window. I instinctively kicked and jerked about but to no avail, there was no way a young girl like me had the strength to pull away from hardened gangsters and thugs.

I scrapped through the window roughly and my arms and legs were scratched badly by the fragments of glass still attached to the window. My yelps and cries of pains seemed to make the ABB thugs laugh as they tossed me to the alleyway floor. I was beginning to regret agreeing to come along on this outing but, at the back of my mind, a soft voice I knew as my conscience asked me if I would have selfishly preferred to abandon Emma to face this alone after all she had done for me and protected me.

"Ok, bitch, hand over all your valuables and cash and maybe I will let you walk out of this alive. You even think of fighting back, I will gut you and watch you bleed before having fun with your corpse." The ABB thug, decked out in red and green gang colours, that had tossed me to the floor declared in a rather leery voice as he walked over to loom over me.

I saw Emma being dragged out of the car and into the shadows on the far side of the vehicle out of the corner of my eye, Mr Barnes had been pulled out from the drivers' seat, multiple cuts evident on his arms and chest, and was on his knees being hit by baseball bats. The alleyway was dark and shadowy, lit only by the headlights of the two vehicles, causing the already intimidating figures of the ABB thugs to be ever the more frightening. _I have to be strong, for myself, for Dad, for Emma_. I tried to tell myself, but my bodybegan to shake and shiver ever the more, ignoring what my mind was trying to convince me.

"Pay attention, you bitch!" the man in looming over me shouted, bending down to peer at me right in the eyes. I saw that his bandana was tied over one eye, whether it was stylistic or done to hide a missing eye, I could not tell in this lighting. He flashed his knife in front of my face, causing me to flinch and crawl back in fear and shock. The light that reflected off the blade and into my eyes blindled me for a moment as I hlaf-stumbled, half-crawled backwards into the shadows, trying to get away from the blade and the gangster. He laughed and stepped closer towards me cockily, strutting like a predatory cat appraoching a cornered rat, me.

For most of my young life, I had been sheltered. I live in a good house, had loving parents and a good best friend. I never spared a thought to the what would ever happen to me in the big big world, filled with evil and terror. Never needed to face the gruesome horrors of the gangs, crime and death head-on despite living in the Docks area.

That is until Mom's death last year.

That broke me. Broke me bad.

I found out that I was not capable to face the evils of the world in such a sudden and immediate way, and I retreated deep into my shell, closed myself off from everything and anything that could remind me of reality and hid in a world of my own darkness. My dad wasn't in any condition to help or support me and I didn't care for I was in denial of reality the same way he was. I was slowly, over months, coaxed out of my emotional retreat from the world by Emma, my best friend, whom I now feel I owe my life for just being there for me through my worst moment.

I had limped out of my cocoon, my chrysalis, my crucible, just that little bit tougher, that little bit stronger that I had been before and I have been trying to get stronger each and every day since so I will never crumble and fall apart again. I would not let the world get me down ever again. I could not let Emma down.

I tried each day to stand strong, to smile, to live a life that would make Emma happy, to not run away and hide from the evils of reality. That's why I fought that much harder to go to Summer Camp this year, to prove that I could stand up tall; why I didn't melt down when Summer Camp was cancelled but slowly worked out my frustration with Emma by my side and also why I have been willing to accompany Emma on her social and modelling events instead of just hiding away from the world and the evil that pervades it. I wanted to be able to stand tall as a person, not wilt away like a flower without water. To never give up, to never give in. No More!

I had stayed calm and focused just now in the car, and composed enough to nearly made the 911 call to the police. But now, faced with an ABB member standing in front of me, a representation, a symbol, an embodiment, of the evil and hate in that exist in this world, flashing a blade right in my face, I realised I couldn't do it. All the strength I though I had grown was a paper lion, I wasn't really strong, just lying to myself about being string. I couldn't live out an illusion, a falsehood, a lie.

I can't stand up tall in a world filled with the darkness of Man's hearts; I can't help but wilt away, torn and tattered, weathered by the evil and selfishness that pervades society. I can't help but give up and give in to my own weakness, to my own failings.

"Take out your purse and your jewellery, now! Or I will cut you!" the one-eyed ABB member demanded fiercely, sending spittle into my face. The lights flickering in the alleyway made his blood-shot eyes and scowl demonic to my fear-addled brain. the thug placed his knife's edge unto my neck as he held me against the alleyway wall with the other hand. I shivered and trembled as I felt my blood trickle down from the small cut the knife had made.

Tears flooded my eyes as I fumbled for my purse with my trembling hands. I wanted to get away, to hide myself away from this terror that has bared its fangs at me, to crawl back into the shell I lived in last year. The horror of the situation started lauding its dominance over my faculties and mind as my limbs shivered and shook incessantly, causing me to drop my purse and its contents all over the floor.

A sharp pain filled my head and a vein above my left ear throbbed hard as I felt adrenaline pumping through my body, causing me to hyperventilate. Why did this have to happen to Emma and I? I needed to get away! I don't want to die this way! I...

 _-Anger. Resentment. Rage.-_

 _-Agreement.-_

What? Who?

 _-Despair. Pain.-_

 _-Accord.-_

Help! Help! Whoever you are, Help!

 _-Query: Compatibility.-_

 _-Confirmation: Affinity.-_

Save Me!

 _-Trajectory.-_

 _-Agreement.-_

Stars and huge, flying forms filled my vision. Planets crashed against each other as the dance of the universe pulsed powerfully in the...

I blinked and felt that I had forgotten something very important. The pain of my headache has disappeared and the world around me started to shift into black, grey, white and gold. What felt like a cool breeze blew across my face and I could no longer feel the cut on my neck or the bruises on my back.

The places lit directly by the car lights and the street lamps just beyond the alley way were turned all white, like the first snows of winter. The people and the objects around me became figures of tar black with slate grey highlights that and patches of gold were spread out all around the alley, islands of colour amongst the greyscale tones of the alleyway, filling the underside of the cars and seemingly flowing from and shifting along the feet of the ABB members.

The gangster holding me suddenly screamed out and fell right on top of… wait... He fell right THROUGH me and slammed his head into the brick wall, his knife clattering to the floor below. I looked down at my body and hands and saw that I was a wispy mess of golden smoke with arms and legs, and a black body of a thug right through my chest. I looked humanoid, but barely so.

I think this is all me. I had powers. I actually was a fu…reaking cape!

The moan of the ABB thug that fell through me brought me back to the matter at hand and I noticed the other ABB members turning towards me in alarm. I quickly got to my feet with a calm that I didn't have before and turned to face the one-eyed bandit on the ground.

With a simple thought, I solidified myself and threw a kick into the side of the ABB thug and got a satisfactory grunt from the ABB grunt. Hehehe… I made a funny. I paused for a moment as I watched the gangster crumple to the floor and realised that not only did my power make me not afraid, I almost instictively knew how to use my power and how to fight with it.

To quote a phrase from an old movie I watched, "I know Kung-Fu!".

Greyish forms closed in on me slowly. They were wary of me, scared of me. I smiled and leapt forward into their midst, easily throwing a punch into the face of one of the female thugs, sending her falling to the ground with a thud. I kicked the guy beside her right between the legs, remembering what I had been taught to keep "bad men from touching me". I swung a right hook at another who was backing away slowly from me, scratching him on the face before my backhand threw him against the alley wall. This was getting fun.

One thug lunged at me with a shiv from behind me and I shifted with but a thought, causing the guy to fall through me and face-plant unto the floor. I shifted back and stomped down hard on his back for good measure. That will teach him to try to attack people from the back.

I looked round and saw the gangster standing near Emma pull out a gun and point it at me. Could I take a bullet through my body? Did I want to try? I dove to my right just as I saw the gun fire, not willingto take a chance. I landed just behind the Barnes' car, sheilding me from view of the gangster with the gun.

I looked down at the ground, noticing a golden pool of colour under the car. A number of golden threads began to become visible as I observed the golden splotch, each thread was seemingly connected to another area of gold and in my mind's eye I could see how I could enter one gold pool and exit another. Intriguing. And it would serve my current needs very nicely. I immediately dove into the golden shimmer in front of me.

In an instant, I jumped out from a golden pool right beside Emma, surprising both her and the man beside her and landed unto the gangster's shoulders, forcing him to the ground with my weight, and began to pummel his head in.

He wiggled and struggled, trying to aim his gun at me with his right hand while trying to claw at my face with his left. I used my weight to hold him down only shifted into an immaterial form to avoid his wild swings and catching him off-balance. Punch after punch I landed until I felt something crack under my knuckles, the thug stopped his struggles and fell motionless as I heaved a sigh of relief.

I stood up slowly and turned towards Emma and when I noticed the bruises on her face and arms, the blood from a cut on her forehead, I felt burning hot anger at the bastards that did that. I quickened my pace towards her and reached out to her but Emma screamed, recoiled and shrunk away from me.

Huh?

Ah. Right, I must look like a monstrous mess.

I shifted back to my normal form easily and put my hand on Emma's shoulder. "Emma, it's alright now. I took care of them. It's me, Taylor". The world around me melted back into colour as I shifted and the warm Bay air along with its humidity hit me. The cut on my neck began to hurt and itch again. But that didn't matter anymore, Emma was safe now. I was with her and she was with me and all was right with the world.

"You… What… but… " Emma blabbered. "You..."

The sound of a person clearing his throat nrought me out of my reverie. I quickly spun myself to face the new threat to Emma, only to see Mr Barnes gingerly limp over, dishevelled and bleeding from his nose.

"Mr Barnes, are you alright?" I asked, a bit embarrassed that I forgot about him and didn't want to admit it.

"Yes, I'm alright, the men attacking me either were knocked out by you or ran off in fear. Thanks for saving Emma, Taylor. I owe you.. No. WE owe you our lives." He replied, moving forward and pulling Emma and I into a hug.

"What do we do now?" Emma asked in a small hesitant voice.

"We…" Mr Barnes looked around at the unconscious bodies and the trashed car"I think we better call the authorities in to handle these thugs and then while waiting for them to arrive, we have to get our stories straight. We can't tell them what really happened"

"Story? We aren't going to tell them the truth?" I asked incredulous that a lawyer, albeit a divorce lawyer, would ask me to tweak the truth of a crime.

Mr Barnes smiled at me, like a person trying to gently explain something simple to a little kid. "We can't let them know you are a parahuman, or rather'the' parahuman that saved all of us. Secret identity and all that."

Oh. Good point. I hadn't thought of that.

"We'll tell them that a cape came and saved us and left without saying a word. It wasn't any cape that we recognised. Remember that, girls, nothing that can hint at Taylor here being a cape. Everything else, you tell as it is, just say that the cape arrived and stopped the ABB members when they cornered you both and that the cape fought off the ABB single-handedly." Mr Barnes instructed. Emma nodded dumbly as she wrapped her arms around herself and hugged herself tightly.

Mr Barnes pulled out his phone and called the BBPC as Emma and I huddled together in the back of the car.

"You…. You're a cape? You didn't tell me?" Emma finally managed to say after a few minutes.

I looked at her, unsure of what to say. Would a simple 'yes' suffice? I couldn't tell her about the brave face I was making in front of her and my dad everyday. About how I am hiding behind a mask of happiness despite my inner pain and what went through my mind just before I got my powers. I looked down at my shoes, avoiding Emma's gaze.

"If you don't want to talk about it, Taylor, then don't. I.. I don't want to force you" Emma said, turning away.

"Yes." I whispered softly, but Emma still heard me. I increased my volume a little as she leaned closer to listen "Yes, I got powers, but I didn't this morning. Something happened during the attack just now, something made these powers appear. Remember that theory someone had on Parahumans Online that linked being scared to gaining powers? I think I believe it whole-heartedly now."

Emma shivered beside me."It... it's ok, Taylor. I... I think.. I get it. I'm sorry for even bringing it up" Emma says, placing her hand hesitantly on my leg.

Silence filled the car as Emma and I just sat there wordlessly even as the police arrived. Even after they had left with the gangsters in custody, Emma and I just sat there in the back seat of the car, silently holding on to each other.

"Ok, I told them that I would give them a proper statement down at the station tomorrow because I needed to bring two traumatised girls back home to rest." Emma's dad said as he got back into the trashed up car and started it up. "So now comes the hard part. Telling Taylor's dad what truly happened. Danny's gonna kill me for getting you into this mess."

Dad did.

Metaphorically, of course.

Dad was furious that I was put in such a situation and took out his frustrations on the only person he felt was able to be blamed, Emma's dad. "How could you have let this happen, Alan? How is it I nearly lost my daughter tonight? I thought I could trust you to take care of them" Dad shouted at Mr Barnes after he heard the whole story, fight and all.

"Dad, it's not Mr Barnes' fault. It's not as if he could do anything to avoid it." I cut in as Emma started to sob quietly beside me "What happened tonight was… is not something I want to talk about, but, Dad, it was truly out of his control. Yes, we got attacked. Yes, we got hurt. Yes I got powers. but at least we are alive, Dad. All's well that ends well."

Silence.

"Ok," my dad finally said after he had spent the last few minutes with his head in his hands, digesting all the information, "We will go to the Protectorate tomorrow morning to register Taylor as a parahuman and most probably sign up as a Ward." Being underage meant it would be very hard for me to apply to be a rogue cape and since we wanted to stay on the side of the law, there weren't that many options left. Or so Mr Barnes had explained on the ride home.

"Taylor. Show me this shadow thing you become. I need to see this with my own eyes before it can fully sink in." I nodded at my dad's request. With a thought, I shifted forms and colour disappeared from the world around me again. I smiled at the way my dad's now-grey eyes bulged at the sight but I also noticed that Emma was quiet the entire time, not meeting my eyes or saying anything. She probably was still getting over what happened. I made a note to talk to her tomorrow and make sure she's ok.

After my dad tried to prod me (and passing through me) a few times, Mr Barnes interjected "I think we had better go, it's been a rather stressful time and we need the rest if we are to get what we planned done tomorrow"

"One more thing," Mr Barnes added just as he and Emma reached the door. " I hereby offer to be Taylor's lawyer in all this, Danny. I promise to start reading up on cape law to try to support Taylor in all her cape legal matters. It's the least I can do after Taylor saved Emma and I. So I will go down the the PRT with you tomorrow to give collaborative support and act as counsel. Emma can follow as a witness and to provide emotional support."

Emma waved goodbye as she walked out, a strained smile on her face but a smile nonetheless.

That night, I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling, smiling from ear to ear. Thinking of the possibilities that lay ahead for me.

I was a cape! A bonafide super-powered cape!

I was so going to wear my Armsmaster underwear tomorrow to go to the PRT.


	4. Chapter 4 - Accreditation

Sorry for the long pause. I just lost my mother-in-law to a sudden aneurysm and it's been hectic, both for the funeral and for hanbling my work. So sorry.

Disclaimer - I don't own Worm or Parahumans. I just play with them.

Blackghosts - I'm the original. You can go check (don't know how, though). I'm edditing them up a buit and will cotninue past the point I stopped because my company stopped access to SB and SV. (I really only write when I'm free at work, and not at home)

Chapter 4 – Accreditation

I got out of bed before my alarm clock went off for the first time in months.

I couldn't sleep after the emotional highs and lows of what had happened yesterday. The idea of me, little old me, becoming a superhero (or should it be super-heroine?) made me estatic at first, but soon the memories of what had caused it echoed in my head.

The memories of the helplessness, the despair just before everything suddenly became clear, focused and it's as though one moment I was a cornered rat surrounded by mice and the next I was a great tiger smiling wide as he faced his hunt. As I said, emotional highs and lows. I wonder if all capes were like that when they got their powers? The suddenly clarity, the casual acceptance in the shift of power in their life... Hmm..

I wondered if that's what madness was: the feeling of utter joy and despair at the same time. And becoming philosophical. While still in pyjamas. And having crazy ideas about whether I could control the shadows under my eyes to go away as a cosmetic effect or add more eye shadows to hide my identity.

All this contemplation of the wonders of the universe was getting me nowhere so I dragged myself into the bathroom to brush my teeth and freshen up my face before heading down to the kitchen to make breakfast. Pancakes. Definately pancakes that would be a nice thing to make. Something normal, something routine. Something to get my mind off all this before I go crazy.

I proceeded to sift the pancake flour and warm up the stove and it wasn't long after I got my first pancake unto the stove that my dad came into the kitchen yawning. "Taylor. Why are you up so early?"

I shrugged, "I couldn't sleep. I feel so… so… I just can't describe it. Half of me is happy I have powers now, something I have always dreamed about since young, but the other half is focused on what happened yesterday, the horror of what happened and could have happened if I didn't get my powers.'"

Dad just walked up to me and hugged me and I leaned into his embrace, not caring that my pancakes were starting to burn. "Taylor. Sit down." He said and led over me to the dining chair to sit.

"Taylor. I'm worried for you." He declared softly as he walked around me to turn the stove off and toss the blackened pancake into the bin. "You're too young to handle all this. You haven't even started high school and you're already been in a life or death situation, it's alright to feel confused and lost. Just remember that you have Emma, her dad, and especially me here with you for anything and everything. Don't hold your emotions back." Dad whispered into my ear as he resumed the hug, worry and sadness evident in his voice.

"Dad, I'm ok. I'll be ok." I replied, not sure what to say. Dad just nodded and got started on a new batch of pancakes.

The kitchen was silent for the rest of breakfast except for the sound of my heart breaking when I saw the pain in my dad's eyes.

A look I have seen before.

A look of helplessness, regret and despair.

I know my dad well, very well. He was angry at himself of not being there beside me, not being there to save me from what happened last night, from being damaged both physically and emotionally from the experience. He didn't want me to crumble again like I did when mom died.

He didn't know that I was already broken, had always been broken since that time. He thought my breaks and my wounds had already begun to heal, that I was able to be happy again, to be...normal.

I had thought the same, almost fooled my ownself into thinking I was whole again, that I could be strong again. Yesterday clearly showed me I wasn't. I remembered the time just last week when Dad had poked fun of me and Emma being 'together', the smile on his face, the relief that I had life in me again, that I was smiling.

I can't let him down; I had to be stronger and not just on the outside but inside too. No more breaking down when a gust of wind shakes up my life. No more causing my dad to fall into despair whenever I fell apart. I had to be rise up strong as a phoenix, evolve into a better version of Taylor Hebert and now I had the superpowers to make that promise come true. I could no longer be a weak mewling baby wanting to be protected and cuddled through life's dangers, I had to be a strong woman, the "Hear me Roar" type of woman. Like Alexandra. Yes, like Alexandria.

Emma and her dad picked us up after breakfast in her mom's car to head to the Protectorate HQ. As I got into the back seat of the car, I saw that Emma looked worse off than she did last night. Her eyes were red, her red tresses were in a mess and she actually didn't have any make-up on, the travesity! The guilt in my heart worsened, I had been weak and my best friend had suffered because of it. This hardened my resolved to become tougher, harder, stronger. For the greater good.

Emma leaned into me as the car drove out from the driveway and she smiled a small but sincere smile as she placed her hand on my thigh. My heart warmed as I placed my hand over hers and there it stayed until we reached Protectorate HQ.

When we reached the main gate, an intercom device with multiple buttons on it slowly rose out of the ground beside the driver's window of the car. It had to be Tinker tech, maybe even Armsmaster's. The intercom blared out what seemed to be a standard pre-recorded message:

"PRT Headquarters. Please state your purpose of visit.  
If you are a Ward or Protectorate member, kindly use the Hero entrance as briefed to you by your supervisor.  
If you are a villain, please press the red button, state your cape name, put your hands on the wall in front of you and the PRT will attend to you shortly. Do not make any sudden moves.  
If you are here to join a tour of the facilities, the next tour is scheduled for the twelfth of September. You can sign up online on PHO.  
If you are a newly triggered parahuman, kindly depress the white button, state your cape name, followed by the phrase "New Cape". If you have not chosen a cape name, you may use the term "Undecided" in its place.  
If you are here to make a complaint, press the green button and one of our personnel will come to take your statement.  
If you are the media, we are busy, please come back later.  
Thank you and have a wonderful day."

"Well, glad to see they have a sense of humour." Mr Barnes murmured to himself before turning round to me. "Have you chosen a name?" I looked to dad, then to Emma, but neither of them had any suggestions so I shook my head at Mr Barnes. "Not yet"

"Oh well", Mr Barnes said and turned to the radio box and pressed down on the white button "Undecided, new cape"  
The gates opened up in front of us as the intercom descended back into the ground and we were directed into the parking area.

As I got out of the car and looked at the white PRT HQ building standing in front of me, the sun shining down bright on it, I began to wonder if this was the right idea. My childhood dream of meeting my heroes, of getting powers of my own was being fulfilled at this very moment, but at what cost? Was I ready enough, strong enough, to be a hero?

I clenched my fists hard as I struggled with the question in my mind and the pain of my fingernails digging into my bare palm brought calm and focus. I could do this. I HAD to do this.

Emma, who had got out of the car after me, gave a sudden "Eep" from behind me. I quickly turned and realised that everything around me was black and white with small tinges of gold. I had shifted to my shadow state inadvertently. I relaxed and shifted back to my normal state. "Sorry", I mumbled.

Colours slowly filled the area around me and I saw the shock and maybe even fear on the faces of dad, Emma and Mr Barnes. I felt the worry and uncertainty from before about my ability to handle all this hero-ing business come back to me.  
Dad was the first to snap out of it and came over to give me a hug. "It's ok, Taylor. Nothing to be afraid of. We're here for you. Let's go in."

I took a deep breath and plodded into the PRT reception and the four of us were soon being escorted into a small meeting room.

Paperwork. In triplicate!

I never minded essay writing in school, but the amount of paperwork I had to fill out to join the Wards was making me wish I had the parahumans skill to multi-task and write with both hands and both feet at the same time or mentally control things to write things out for me. My hand was aching tremendously as I finally filled out the last field in the last column on the last duplicate of the last form. Ouch.

Just as I put my pen down, a secretary-type lady in a tight blouse and tighter pencil skirt entered the room, collected the forms in front of me and said "Miss Militia will attend to you all in a short while. Thank you for your patience." I leaned back into my chair and massaged my writing hand. I really suspected that we were being watched by a hidden surveillance camera, and that they were watching all our responses to the dress sense of that secretary.

Miss Militia walked in wearing her trademark camouflage uniform sat down opposite me. "I understand that you are the new cape, Miss…" she flipped through the papers in her hands "…Taylor Hebert. I also understand that this is your father," she pointed to my dad.  
"What I don't understand is why Mr Barnes and his daughter is here."

"Ah, yes" Mr Barnes stopped me before I could answer "I'm here as her lawyer and my daughter is here as a collaborative witness as to Ms Hebert's status as a cape." he injected smoothly.

Miss Militia raised an eyebrow "Oh. Is she in need of legal counsel at this moment? Was a crime committed that I do not know of? Should I summon the PRT lawyers too?" Miss Militia's stance and tone changed somewhat stiffer and more business-like. Confrontational even.

"No, no. We are just.." Mr Barnes started, but was cut off by my dad's hand on his shoulder.

"Alan, this isn't a courtroom. Let me do this. I'm sorry Miss Militia, the story is like this. My daughter found out she had powers last night during an ABB attack when she was in the car with Alan and Emma here, so they know who she is and what she can do. Alan, being the lawyer he is, is offering to help in any legal matters that are needed, but mostly because, from what I know, they need to sign non-disclosure agreements as to the identity of a cape, especially when the cape wants to sign up with the Wards." Dad took over calmly and slowly, difussing the situation like he would the many times I saw him do at work.

Miss Militia smiled and her posture relaxed a bit. "I see. Mr Barnes, I will put you and your daughter down as secondary emergency contacts with a side note that you are her personal lawyer. But I think we should leave the talking to Miss Hebert here, it is her life that has changed, and she has her father here to assist her." She said quite firmly to Mr Barnes.

"Now, back to business." Miss Militia changed back to a smile "Miss Hebert, can I call you Taylor?" I nodded. "Good, Taylor. How are you feeling? It must be quite emotionally and mentally stressful for you today, especially so fast after being involved in a gang attack. I just want to know if you're alright to talk about what happened. No need to go into any ... personal specifics to what was going on in your mind, but just detail the facts of the incidents. You should know why I asked that, and trust me, I understand." I nodded again, thinking back to the hurt and despair of yesterday. I saw a look of compassion and pity in Miss Militia's eyes, not one that was condescending, but from one that knew, one that had went trhough the same and didn't wish it on another. I guess all capes, or at least one other cape, felt the same as I do when they got their powers, went through the same as I did. That gave me a sense of relief that I wasn't the only broken one in the world.

I gave a simple narrative as to the entire incident last night, my hand instictively grabbing on to Emma's halfway through my account.

Miss Militia nodded and pulled out some documents from a file to place on the table "You have applied to join the Wards and with full parental consent, so as you know, all Wards attend Arcadia and since you have not started high school yet, it'll be easy to change you over with your dad here to approve it. It'll take effect immediately."

"No." I half-shouted, "I want to go to Winslow. I'm not going to leave my best friend there alone and disappear to another school."  
"Taylor…" my dad started.  
"Dad, I won't leave Emma," I interjected "she was there for me when I needed her and I won't dump her aside just because I have superpowers."  
"But you can still…" he tried to continue.  
I knew it was a chance at a better future, going to a school above the income bracket we were in. Better facilities and teaching staff would mean better prospects for job opportunities. But I wouldn't really need a job if I was going to be a cape, would I? I had seen the people that went to Arcadia High at that birthday party last week, a bit snobbish with their noses in the air, I wouldn't be able to fit in with them. Well… except maybe that mayor's son…. he was cute and friendly.. and... cute...

I pushed the blush that was beginning to bloom on my cheeks down and looked Miss Milltia in the eyes "No, changing schools now would be too obvious to anyone paying attention, especially when a new Ward joins.. No one would expect a new Ward to be in another school from Arcadia. If you want to transfer me to Arcadia High, transfer Emma too." I said with conviction. I had to be there for Emma, to protect her. They can't tear us apart.  
My father just sighed and shrugged.

Miss Militia smiled at the exchange "You have thought this through, haven't you, Taylor. Alright, we will leave you in Winslow and I will contact the school and inform them of the special arrangements. I'm sure they will be over the moon to have a Ward in their school. I'll work out an excuse with the school for any absences you will have and you will be informed on the procedures involved."

"Thanks." I said. "Thank you very much."

"I will do the paperwork for your recruitment and arrange your branding and psych evaluation appointments." Miss Militia says as she gets up from her seat "Your application for being a Ward isn't going to be official until the paperwork and evaluations go through, but that's just procedure. I will send any legalese to Mr Barnes but for now, maybe you want to be given a tour of the facilities and meet the other Wards we have? I would also like you to have a go in our power testing facility for us to gauge your abilities."

Wow. Meeting the other wards. Testing powers. This was like a dream come true. "Mr Hebert, Ms Barnes, Mr Barnes, I'm sorry but I cannot allow you to accompany us for this portion of the process due to the secrecy of the identities of our other Wards and of course the Protectorate members that are on base at the moment."

"Mr Barnes, I'll have the PRT escort you out of the facility and to your car. Your official excuse here is that you were called in to give your report on the attack on you focusing on the sighting of the new cape you reported. The same excuse goes for you, Mr Hebert and you, Taylor."  
"Mr Hebert, since you will need to wait for your daughter, you will be escorted to the lounge to rest and you will be briefed about the Ward Active Support for Parents, WASP for short, which is the support program we have to help you with having a Ward for a child." Miss Militia opened the meeting room door and gestured for all of us to exit. "Now, if you all please exit."

I looked sadly at Emma as she smiled at me and said her goodbye. As she walked off towards the carpark, I wondered what she felt now that I had powers and she didn't. Would she be jealous? Afraid of me? Would we grow apart now? I hoped not.  
I gave my dad a tight hug, needing reassurance and comfort.

"It's ok, Taylor. I'll be here waiting for you when you're done. And don't worry about the other Wards. I'll deal with them if they bully you, ok?" Dad whispered into my ear as he ruffled my hair.  
"And Miss Militia," he turned towards the camoflague-clad heroine, "I highly suggest you keep her away from Armsmaster lest she embarrasses herself in front of him. I can assure you that she wore.."  
"DAD!" I literally screamed out, my face turning red.  
My dad laughed out loud and walked off towards the lounge, waving.  
Did I tell you I really hate my dad sometimes and question his sanity and my resultant sanity because of it?

Miss Militia put her hand on my shoulder, shaking her head at my dad's antics.  
"Now, I will get to the more … serious stuff with you. I would like a general idea of what your powers are and what you can do."

"I.. Well, it's hard to explain." I stammered, unsure of what to say and what not to say, given the reaction of dad, Emma and Mr Barnes just now outside the building.

"Try me. Besides talking it through would help you understand your own power and also for us to understand you."

"Well, I can shift my body into a 'Shadow-form' that looks like a shadow and things can pass through it, and also I can move through shadows from one shadow to another shadow. I also seem to see things in black and white when I am in 'shadow-form'.

"Hmm. Sounds like around a Breaker 2 or 3, Mover 3 at least, possibly Stranger 2. Don't know about that vision thing though, probably just a side effect of your powers. Can't tell for sure until we do a full test. So, do you want to meet your future team-mates first or go through powers testing first?"

"I guess whatever is more convenient, Miss Militia. Don't want to be a bother to you all."

"The next patrol shift change is not due yet, so maybe we can run some powers test first so that you can meet the wards during the shift change."

"Fine by me" I replied.

We walked into what seemed to be a room the size and ceiling height of a hanger or a warehouse except that there was scientific equipment, gym equipment and machines all around the room, an obstacle course in the centre, various weights and boxes strewn around and padding covering all the walls and even the ceiling.

Miss Militia spread out her arms wide, smiling "Here we test out the extent of what you can do and let the machines measure anything that cannot be determined by the naked eye. Why not we test out your Mover skill, your ability to jump from shadow to shadow? There should be enough shadows in the room for you to use given the stuff lying around." She said.

I nodded and gulped. My first actual full demonstration of my powers.  
At least it wasn't to Armsmaster or Alexandra, I would have been too shy to talk and too focused on trying to get them to sign my paraphernalia to really concentrate on anything, all thirty-two of my paraphernalia from notebooks to lunch boxes to clothing was with me in my bag. Well.. maybe I shouldn't get Armsmaster to sign what I'm wearing... maybe...

I closed my eyes and shifted easily into my shadow form. I felt more focused, more aware of my surroundings as I opened my eyes and saw everything around me in greyscale and gold. "Here I go" I said and dove towards the nearest golden pool beside one pile of boxes and slid in. I followed one of the many threads leading out of the pool I was in and appeared on the other side of the room, beside a one of the beeping machines. Miss Militia shouted over for me to try to move through some solid objects, shadow walk some more and to try to do whatever felt natural with my power.

I easily moved my shadowed body through some solid boxes and even tried shadow walking to a shadow that was not on the ground. I could poke part of my body out of the exit shadow, but gravity still had an effect on me and I would fall if my centre of gravity was outside of the shadow. Kind of like leaning out of a window, I guess. Moving through the shadows in my shadow form felt like freedom and gracefulness, yet dark and ... for the lack of a better word, comforting?

I could only shadow walk to a shadow I had in my line-of-sight but I could hop from shadow to shadow quickly to simulate long range teleportation (or so Miss Milita told me). I felt rather at ease just moving around without a care in the world.

I also found out, from a suggestion Miss Militia gave, that I could turn anything I touched into shadow when transforming into my Breaker state while carrying something. I wonder how would a shadow-ed weapon would work in a fight. That kind of made sense to me after I did it, because my clothes have always come along with me into shadow form whenever I transformed.

Further experimentation showed that any shadow-ed item would return to normal a second after I let go of it. If the item was occupying the same space as another object when returning to normal, the object would be shunted to the nearest open space. (I guess that shadow-ing something through another person wouldn't be an option then.)

I also tried out various weights, but there was no significant increase in my strength from normal. Shadow-ed weights still weighed like they did normally. (No throwing of heavy objects I couldn't normally lift at other people, then. Sad.) But that fact didn't take away the calm I had in me, just moving around in my shadow form, everything in black and white with traces of gold, maybe it's because things felt simpler without all the colour.

After about fifteen minutes, I couldn't think of anything more to test and was getting a bit tired. I looked back towards Miss Militia and saw her nod and wave me back, so I stepped into my own shadow at my feet and appeared at the closest shadow to Miss Militia before shifting out of my shadow form.

Miss Militia smiled down as she signed off on the paper in front of me. "Ok, tests are over. We'll get your ratings all computed and processed out by tomorrow. Now, time to meet the rest of the Wards. You ok to show them your face?" I Shruged and said "I'm ok. I have nothing to hide."

She brought me into what looked to me like a living room of sorts, couches and soft cushions, a large television and a couple of desktop computers filled the room. A young girl dressed in a teal and green costume with a short dress sat on the couch in front of the television watching some cartoon about talking horses, one of which had a strong southern accent. I recognised her immediately from the news and the PHO threads on her. Vista.

Three boys, one in a costume with clock faces all over, one in a rust and silver costume and the last in a silver and gunmetal power-suit, were huddled around the computer, seemingly browsing the PHO forums. Clockblocker, Aegis and Gallant.

"Wards. We have a new potential member. Stop goofing around and come greet her." Miss Militia shouted from behind me, making me wince a little.

"Taylor, this is Clockblocker." She said, pointing to the guy in the costume with clock faces. He jumped over one of the couches and stuck his hand out to shake my hand. I was about to do the same when suddenly he and everything behind him were yards further away from me than they previously were.

"Ahem", Vista cleared her throat, "You really shouldn't shake that boy's hand on your first day here. Cooties and all you know."

"Hey!" Clockblocker shouted back rather irritatedly and promptly stuck out his tongue.

"But on the serious side, Dennis over there always freezes any new ally he meets in time, Ward or Rogue, and I was just making sure that he doesn't scare away the only other girl on the team. I hate being the only girl here. Hi, I'm Missy." Vista warped space to move from the couch to right in front of me and we shook hands.

"Hi, I'm Taylor. Always good to have another girl in the team so that the boys don't do anything funny, huh?" I replied. Missy smiled from ear to ear at me.

"I'm Carlos," Aegis said, walking over. "I'm sorry about Clockblocker's attempted prank, but given his cape name choice, you can't really expect that much maturity from him. So, on that note, what's your cape name? And quick, before Dennis chooses one for you."

I paused for a moment and thought back to the stuff I did in the training room just now, trying to draw inspiration from how I felt during the whole session. "Shadow Dancer." I replied, "I'm Shadow Dancer." Miss Militia nodded, silently giving approval to my name choice.

The sound of the door opening behind me distracted me from moving over to shake Gallant's hand. A somewhat familiar sounding voice whined loudly "That was the most boring patrol ever!"

I turned and saw Triumph pull off his mask as he asked "Hey, we have a new gi…?"

Then both our jaws dropped.

"You!" he shouted "You?" I shouted back.

Clockblocker face-palmed behind me. "Darn Mayor's son, always with the stealing of the spotlight." 


	5. Chapter 5 - Psyched

**Sorry about taking a bit long to edit this (and it may be a bit shoddy) but work's been rather tough on me.**

 **ChrisBD86 - I don't know when Battery was overseeing the Wards and when it was handed over. I don't think it really matters, right?**

 **Chapter 5 – Psyched**

"You're a cape?" Rory Christner gaped, "Wait… that actually makes a little sense given what you said that day. You're good, I wouldn't even have guessed."

"Err….I…" I just stood there like a deer in the headlights and demonstrated my brilliant impersonation of a fish out of water. My fists unconsciously clenched up, and I flickered into my shadow form.

Once I was in my shadow form, a blanket of calm washed over me, the stress inside me bleeding away into the darkness as the world faded into gold-lined black and white and my mind cleared up to focus on the situation at hand.

"I wasn't a cape that day when I met you that day at the party." I said out confidently, a very different person from what I was a mere moment ago. Triumph stepped back away from me, eyes wide open in shock as I continued, "But circumstances beyond my control have since changed that, hope you don't think I lied to you."

"You don't have to prove that fact, Taylor." Miss Militia cut in from behind me , "Besides, Triumph here knows better to bring up anything regarding another capes background or trigger event, right, Triumph?" I used the interruption to take a deep breath and changed back.

Rory blinked as he turned to look at Miss Militia and was about to say something but stopped himself before anything could come out. Rory shook his head as he smiled and turned back towards me, extending his hand out for me to shake, "Yes, right. No need to talk about that. Glad to see you here," he say a little bit sheepishly, probably embarrassed to at being reprimanded in front of the new girl, "and also glad to see the Wards getting a new member. Now that I've graduated to the Protectorate, they need all the help they can get". Rory then flashed a confident, bright smile that he probably learnt from his... dad.

Wait...

Dad! He's still waiting outside. How long have I been making him wait while I fool around in here?

"My Dad! How long have I been here? He must be worried sick about me!" I blurted out, waving my arms wildly and turned to look towards Miss Militia. Triumph looked at me, then at his outstretched hand.

"He's fine. He's being entertained and briefed by Battery and the Youth Guard as to the details of the Ward scheme for parents. He's fine." She replied. "But given that I don't have anything more for you at this moment, you can go find him and go home. Take a rest and you'll be contacted to come in within the next couple of days for a psych evaluation and branding before you're fully in the Wards"

"Oh. That's all for today?" I felt sad and even a little cheated that my 'adventure' for the day was about to end. Triumph looked towards Aegis and mouthed ' _Did she forget about me?'_ , pointing at his still out-stretched hand. Aegis shrugged.

My crestfallen look must have been obvious because Vista 'warped' over to me and patted me on my back. "It's ok. Gives the rest of us enough time to arrange a welcoming party for you. With cakes and glitter and unicorn sprinkles." Triumph mouthed to Aegis again 'M _y arm is a bit tired, should I just give up?'_

"Yeah, I can't just stop time for the entire Bay just so we can get the party ready. Responsible power use and all." Clockblocker chipped in, only to earn him a slap on the back of his head from Aegis who muttered "That was really lame, Dennis."

I turned towards Triumph, grabbed his slowly withdrawing hand, and shook it hard. "Sorry, I'll catch up with you another time, ok?" I muttered out.

"Alright. Enough joking around. Taylor, follow me." Miss Militia said and led me through several corridors to the Welcome Lobby where I saw my dad seated on a couch with Armsmaster, both of them laughing away at some joke.

I hurried my steps towards them, so I could greet Armsmaster and get an autograph to place in my Armsmaster Collectors' Collectable Album™. My Dad saw me approaching and stood up to hug me once I got near. "I got his autograph for you while waiting, though I would think you would have a lot of time and opportunity to get one from him now that you're a Ward."

"Greetings, Ms Hebert. I am glad you have opted to join the Ward scheme and hope that one day you will have fans that collect your paraphernalia like how you have collected mine. Your father has regaled me with many stories of how you pestered him for my collectables when you were younger." Armsmaster stated rather emotionlessly as he stood to shake my hand, catching me rather off guard with his remarks.

My mind filled with images of little girls playing with Shadow Dancer dolls and going to school with Shadow Dancer lunch boxes and wearin… Oh Crap! My Dad had better not have said anything about… I ducked my head to prevent Armsmaster from seeing my now red-with-embarrassment face. "Pleased to meet you to, sir, Mr Armsmaster, sir" I gush as I shake his hand, hoping he would assume my blush was from meeting him and not because of my… errm… Armsmaster themed unmentionables.

"I have some polishing and fiddling to do with my Halberd in my personal quarters scheduled, so I hope to see you in training soon, Ms Herbert." Armsmaster released the handshake, turned and left without waiting for me to respond.

"You have to excuse Armsmaster. Despite his powers and experience, people skills still elude him." Miss Militia said from beside me. "Here is a standard issue PRT cellphone which can only be used to communicate with us for any questions that you may have. Mr Hebert, I know you don't really approve of cellphones but it is the main form of communication we use here in the Protectorate. I assure you that it is safe for her and we will discipline her if she abuses its use."

I looked to my dad, trying to put my best puppy-dog eyes up on my face. He sighed and nodded. I gleefully took my very first personal cellphone from Miss Militia. Yup. Being a Ward was the right choice for me.

Dad and I was sent back home in a PRT car (which we had to ask for since Mr Barnes had left us without a ride) and I blabbered about what I went through in powers testing as Dad made lunch in the kitchen.

"Taylor," Dad said after I finished my story. "I know you're excited and all right now, so you may not get this, but if you ever need to talk about anything you're going through, I'm here for you. Being a Ward will become stressful as time goes on and I want you to know that you can always talk to me. No matter what."

"No worries, dad. I know. We only have each other. I'll always come to you for help. Emma always encouraged me to talk to you more." I said as I moved over to him and hugged tightly him tightly.

Best Day Ever!

* * *

I spent hours later that evening on the phone to Emma talking about what happened after she and her father had left the PRT offices, discussing what I could do with my powers, joking about my choice of cape name and laughing about my encounter with Armsmaster. Soon, we were talking about costume designs, which costume colour would compliment my eye colour and whether I would look nice in a cape.

"I know what we can do. Why don't we meet at the Boardwalk right now and browse the stores for ideas. I refuse to believe that there is no other costume colour choice for you except for black. Black is soooo cliché and really doesn't do you any good with your skin tone." Emma quipped excitedly.

"Now? My dad wouldn't been too keen on letting me go out to the Boardwalk unsupervised. He doesn't even like it when I go jogging in the mornings."

"Come on. You're a big girl now. Besides, you're a Ward-to-be now, nothing you cannot handle…" Emma replied when suddenly her voice cracked "I would know." she added softly.

"Emma?" I cut in, worried.

"So", Emma's chirpy, happy voice replied me, "go ask your dad and I'll ask mine. And we'll meet at the boutique on Lord's Street in an hour. I soooo need to ensure the new Ward has good fashion sense."

Something was bothering Emma, but she was covering it up. I wished I knew what it was. I'm her best friend, I need to be there for her. Always.

Dad allowed me to go to the Boardwalk with a stern "You better come back early. Ward or no Ward, you still have a curfew". Thus begun a long evening down at the Boardwalk with Emma of arguing about whether black and "very dark navy blue" were visually similar and whether I could get away with a short skirt as a Ward. I didn't really get a chance to ask Emma about what was troubling her, just seeing her bouncing animatedly from aisle to aisle, rack to rack pulling out dresses and leotards made me not want to interrupt the happy mood she was in.

Just as we were about to leave for home after a rather greasy dinner at Fugly Bob's when I heard a scream from one of the alleyways ahead. I turned to Emma and saw that she heard it too. Her mask of cheerfulness and nonchalance dropped and the fear underneath appeared as the memories of what happened just last night probably flashed through her mind.

"Stay back, Emma. I don't want you to get hurt" I whispered as I edged slowly closer to the alley entrance. I heard her whimper in response.

I peeped around into the alleyway and saw two men in black suits and shades standing over a dark-blonde-haired girl. Then men were armed with revolvers and had radio ear-pieces. They looked to me like secret service or maybe mafia, but in Brockton Bay? The girl looked maybe fifteen or sixteen, dressed in a purple hoodie and dark trousers. She shivered in fear as the men said something to her I could not hear.

This didn't look like a regular mugging to me. I didn't know what it was. A secret service shakedown of a terror suspect? A cosplay re-enactment of a scene from one of the Men in Black movies?

I was pulled from my thoughts when one of the men pointed his gun at the girl's head and mumbled something indistinct. I had to take action. Whatever was happening, I was not able to let a girl die in an alleyway.

I shifted into my shadow state and proceeded to move into the alleyway, keeping to the shadows but trying to get closer to assess the situation and leap in to save the girl if needed.

I heard the gunman say gruffly "...then you will die, no one rejects the Boss' offer" and was about to shadow-leap forward to pull the gun out of his reach when the blonde girl visibly calmed down and smiled brightly despite having the muzzle of a gun in her face "You two are gonna get it now, my help's arrived." She declared and spat at the shoe of the man in front of her.

 _What? She can't have seen me, right? What is going on here?_ I thought to myself

The gunman hesitated for a moment and looked about the alleyway, gun at the ready to shoot any intruder, his compatriot also doing the same. I stayed in the shadows right behind them in a crouching position, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. There was something off about this girl and I wanted to know what it was. Was she truly a victim? Was she crazy?

 _Was she worth effort saving?_

"Stupid arrogant girl, I'll be glad to kill you, orders or no" the gunman backhanded the blonde hard, causing her to fall to the ground bleeding from her lips, but it didn't dampen her Cheshire-like smile. "And I'll be glad when you get curb-stomped in a few seconds like the lowly thug you are." the girl replied with a spit of blood into her assailant's face.

The gun man growled back and pointed his gun back at the girl on the floor. "I don't get paid enough for this shit." he said and flicked the safety off of his gun. I immediately leap out of the shadows and gave a swift kick to the back of the man's legs, causing him to lose balance and his shot went well wide.

I stepped forward and threw a roundhouse kick at the rather surprised partner of the man I just took down. He didn't even have a chance to aim the gun he had in his hand.

This was exhilarating. Very exhilarating.

* * *

Emma heard a gunshot echo out from the alleyway that Taylor had went into followed by the sounds of fighting punctuated by loud expletive curses. Taking a deep breath, Emma fought hard against her own fear of the alleyway, of the memories it evoked in her, of what almost happened to her.

Emma took a step forward.

Then another, and another.

Emma released the breath she was holding and slowly unclenched her hands she just realised she had clenched so tightly that it was hurting now. Swallowing hard, she peeped around the entrance to the alleyway and saw Taylor dodging and weaving through punches and swings from two men dressed in black suits and a blonde girl standing off to the side, dusting herself off.

Emma opened her mouth and tried to shout out to the blond girl to get out of the alleyway before she got hurt, but all that came out of her mouth was a weak "Come over here.." at the volume of a stage whisper. But the girl must have heard it as she turned towards Emma, smiled widely and ran over.

"Are you ok?" Emma asked shakily as the girl ran out of the alley. The girl seemed less scared that Emma did about the situation and it ate at Emma. "Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks to the two of you walking by when you did. I probably could have talked my way out of it, but you never know." she replied.

"Err… I …err. I'm not with .. I was just passing by" Emma stammered out.

"Yeah, whatever you say. I'm Ashley and I appreciate what you and the person-who-you-do-not-have-any-knowledge-of in the alley saved me." 'Ashley' smiled wide like a fox, making her freckles even more prominent on her cheeks. 'Ashley' pulled out a small notepad and a pen and began scribbling down something as she peered back into the alley. Emma turned to look too and saw Taylor kicking the downed bodies of the two men, both looking quite beat up and unconscious.

"Call me" Ashley whispered into Emma's ear as she stuffed a piece of paper into her hand. Emma quickly spun around to look at Ashley but the blonde girl was already running off down into the main streets. Emma hesitated, wanting to give chase, but couldn't just leave Taylor alone, could not leave herself alone without Taylor.

Emma absently put the piece of paper into her pocket as she turned back towards alleyway, took another deep breath and shouted out to Taylor. "Ta…, I mean, Shadowdancer! Sho.. should I call the police?"

Taylor stopped stomping on the back of the black-suited men and slowly changed back into human form. "Oh right. Guess I got a bit over-enthusiastic there. Yeah, I'll call it in through my Ward phone. The BBPC don't know me yet, so I can't call them direct, but I suppose someone in PRT can help relay the message and provide a good explanation for the situation."

Emma just watched as Taylor called in the incident, like such a thing was nothing to her. Emma felt worthless, weak as her body shook with lingering fear from the shock of what had happened and what it had brought to her mind.

How could Taylor just bounce back from what happened last night, from what just happened a few minutes ago smiling and unaffected? Is it just because she has powers now? Or was it just Emma herself that was abnormal? Unable to handle the stress, the shock? Like a deer caught in headlights, a small animal before its predator, a weakling. A burden.

Emma waited with Taylor as she gave her 'civilian report' as a passer-by and gave her own statement to the BBPC nervously and haltingly and quietly walked beside Taylor as they left the Boardwalk and headed home.

It was only hours later, after Emma reached home, that she remembered the note in her pocket.

It read:

 _"_ _Take care of her._

 _She will need you one day._

 _You need to be her strength when hers fails_

 _-A"_

The small note slipped from Emma's hand as she sit down on the floor of her room, hugging herself tightly and shivering despite it being a warm late-summer night.


	6. Chapter 6 - A dancer by any other name

**Chapter 6 – A dancer by any other name would dance as sweet**

I examined the colourful posters of the Protectorate heroes that hung on the walls of the office I was now trapped in and at the many toy figures all displayed around the room, trying desperately to draw inspiration, power and even support from them, hoping dearly one of many heroes that the posters or toys depicted could save me from this torture.

"Taylor…."

These darn statement and questions about the life choices I have made and about body image were not what I had expected this whole thing to be. I never had the healthiest self-image before all this happened, due to my rather flat chest and my unremarkable looks next to my best friend's curvaceous model figure and brilliant smile, and gaining powers has not changed it much.

"Taylor…."

And all this questions about the name I chose on the spur of the moment. 'Gee, Taylor, does your choice of the name Shadowdancer mean you like dancing?', 'Would you be favourable to a name that is more marketable like Shadow Cat or Shade Lynx?', 'Do you understand that there is a mercenary Cape called Sundancer and she might take it that you ripped off her name somewhat if you ever crossed paths with her?'"

Bleh! Double Bleh and Triple Bleh!

"Taylor…. Are you even listening?" the man known as Glenn Chambers near-shouted at me. "This not only affects you, it affects the PRT as a whole. The public has to be able to see the Wards as a government-sponsored cape team and not some high-school Glee club. Dennis nearly caused the public to perceive the Wards program as a joke, some college fraternity initiation ritual into the Protectorate or something."

"Yes, Mr Chambers. I'm listening." I sighed "I will follow whatever you say and not disgrace the PRT in any way form or manner. I'll be a good little girl."

"Good. So we are settled on the fact that you will use the name 'Shadowdancer' officially and will use it at the press reveal session coming up for your debut. We will arrange for you to be involved in the Winslow Wilderness & Wildlife Club as a student liaison to the American Wildlife Conservation Foundation so you can easily be pulled away from classes for your Ward duties on the pretext that you have a regional AWCF meeting to attend or to give speeches promoting the AWCF at another school."

I blinked. "Winslow has a Wilderness & Wildlife Club? I didn't know that." I interjected confused.

"It does now. As I said, it is an excuse to pull you out of classes. You are currently its only member and given what I see in your file about your love for wilderness camping, I don't see a problem if you were ever asked about anything on the AWCF. You would need to regularly keep updated on the latest policies additions or changes that the ACWF make though." Mr Chambers replied without looking up from the dossier he was reading and making notes in.

"But what if other students want in on the club? Do I need to actually hold meetings?"

"Yes, Miss Hebert. Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Though, given you are listed as a liaison, you can easily hand off chairing meetings to the other members on the pretext of attending state-level meetings. And since you ARE interested in the subject matter, I don't see that much of a problem."

"Wow. Seems a bit lot just for a cover story." I quipped, amazed at the lengths of the deception that the PRT was willing to go to. Was even capable of.

"The school administration would know of your identity and will facilitate your egress from the school premises when you are needed during school hours, but do try not to take advantage of this to skip classes or to fail to hand in assignments."

"People actually do that?"

"Wards are regular teenagers after all" Mr Chambers smiled.

I leaned back on my chair and took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. Not only was what they were doing to allow me to attend Winslow huge, they were doing this just because I said I wanted to stay with Emma. And all I had to do was participate in wilderness conservation activism? I didn't get it.

"Why, Mr Chambers? Why does it feel that things are bending backwards just for me?" I voiced my question out loud.

"Because, Ms Hebert, making sure that a cape, especially a young one, not only stays in school, grows up educated and is not caught up with the gangs and villainous organisations, is a victory. Proof that the Protectorate Ward program works. Making sure you get what is needed to feel comfortable as a Ward is quite high on the Key Performance Indices of most of the staff here, even the Protectorate capes themselves."

"But…" I interrupted weakly, not fully getting it.

"Let me explain it clearer. A cape has three choices. Be a Hero, be a Villain or be a Rogue. Letting a cape become a Villain if we could have prevented it is obviously a major problem we hope not to ever encounter. It not only shows the ineptitude of the Protectorate at maintaining peace and promoting Goodness and the American Way, but it also skews the numbers against us in the Villains versus Heroes lineup.

Having a cape choosing to become a Rogue, especially after he or she was previously affiliated with the PRT, tells the public that the Protectorate Program and the Ward program do not work since there are capes that actually refuse to join the program or leave the program, and it lessens any leverage we could use to encourage new capes in the future to join up since there would be precedence of people rejecting the offer. Making sure that a new cape is offered a package that will make him or her be comfortable as a cape and has a good support system around him or her can help to prevent this.

Don't forget we are talking about people that can defy physics and can basically overpower regular humans easily if they wanted to. Add into the equation the fact that the cape in question is a teenager, with the angst and hormonal issues of being a teenager. How much more should be done to ensure that said teenager not start a rampage and destroy an entire block just because of some unrequited infatuation or a bad hair day?

We try to ensure that all Wards are taken care of and have a good circle of friends and family to basically ensure that the Ward doesn't get drawn to, as the nerds say, the Dark Side."

I snorted rather ungracefully at that.

"It isn't all pampering and bending over backwards, though." Mr Chambers continued "A lot is demanded from a Ward. Grades must be maintained, accountability and regimental discipline out on the field is expected without any leeway. You all are still a bunch of teenagers going out to fight crime and there is absolutely no way we are going to have any accidents happening to you or done by you that will make the evening news.

Have I explained it to your satisfaction, Ms Hebert?"

I nodded, unsure of really what to say. My mind told me that it was too much slack given, too much pandering to the whims and fancies of an individual, but what he said made sense. A kid with powers needed to be handled rather delicately to not have her buck against the rules that were placed. I wonder if what Mr Chambers said was the real actual reason behind the bending-over-backwards or whether there was some deeper reason I would only know when I was deeper down into the rabbit hole, so to speak. But, for now, I happy with what I'm getting out of this deal.

I think.

"Now. There is still your costume. Although I would prefer it if you were in bright colours, it is understood that since your powers do revolve around shadows and that you would be more efficient if you did not stand out, it was agreed that you would not be marketed as an bright shining beacon of truth and light. Instead, we would be trying to create an image of a dark and broody type of hero, skilled in infiltration and reconnaissance. A no-nonsense hero that isn't about the glory, but about the justice.

So we will be designing a dark slate grey costume with some dark charcoal grey armour pieces. You will be given a half-face jet black mask to wear because a full face mask de-humanises you in the eyes of the public and a half-face mask allows you to eat, speak easily and also lets the public see your emotions and relate to you better. You have any questions, Miss Hebert?"

"I don't think I can have any say in this, right?" I asked in a flat voice.

"Good girl, you're learning fast. We will be giving you a black japnese bo to use as a weapon. Sharp weapons and guns make the public think we are raising child soldiers, so we settled for a more traditionally defensive blunt weapon. You will be given training to use it from Armsmaster on a weekly basis and using it will also helps to blur your true identity.

Your serious, no-nonsense Shadowdancer personality is made almost as a direct contrast to your normal chirpy nature as Taylor Hebert, which I have been told you have. The bo stick, as an Asian weapon, further disassociates you from who you are normally. Your interests in school will be nature-focused, distancing you from your 'Dancer' name. Most people would think Shadowdancer is a very serious girl with some oriental background or influence that is involved in some dance troupe or ballet class in Arcadia High, the typical high school we send our Wards. A far cry from who you actually are, thus protecting your identity."

"Wow. You actually intentionally planned all this just to ensure no one would figure my identity?" I said incredulously.

"I do take my job seriously, Miss Hebert. Very seriously." Mr Chambers replied with a smile. A rather scarily sweet smile. "If you have no other questions, you can go now. I'll tell you when you need to come in for your media handling briefing for your media reveal."

 _Being a Ward is going to be tough work if I have to face this guy on a regular basis._ I thought to myself as walked out the door of the PR office. _I don't know if I can get anything that I want to do to myself past him._

I hated attention. People clambering all around me, trying to get a piece of me. Fake smiles and senseless words.

"We have an announcement to make today…"

I usually let Emma have the limelight, be the centre of attention, bask under the camera flashes while I just sat in the corner, living vicariously through her.

"We, the PRT, wish to present to the public a new member of our Wards team that we have recruited into our ranks…"

I was always happy to be in the background, behind-the-scenes, in the shadows. Not in front of the camera, never in front. Guess my powers took that into consideration, huh?

"She is not your typical hero, not the standard girl-scout with the cute smile, cheerful giggle and the flowing cape, but trust me she IS a hero…'

Mr Chambers was right, this image the PRT created for me is truly completely different from who I really was, but could I maintain the façade, the mask, that they created for me? Emma would probably be a lot better at handling this, at acting. I really should have asked her for tips yesterday when we went swimming together. I wonder if she is jealous of… nah, if anything I'm jealous of her. She doesn't have all this crap dumped on her lap, she has fame, the looks, her future all set out for her. I have powers, yes, but all this hiding , pretending, not being who I am, this double-life that I will have to begin to live...

It's stressful. Even before I have even started living it.

"She is the justice that leaps through the night….

I need to really ask her how she feels about all this. Truly feels about me being a ward. All this power testing, all this PR lessons and costume fittings have taken up so much of my time the past few days. Emma and I usually spend the last few days before school starts together in sleep-overs at each other's houses. Now that we are starting a new school together, yet we are apart in our preparations, I hope all this Ward business isn't going to pull us apart.

"She is the protector that prowls the alleyways…

Life used to be simple. Life through the eyes of a child is always simple. But I don't think I have been a child since Mom died. Life changes, life pushes us on whether we want to move or not. How I long for simpler days, simpler times. Emma, to me, is a reminder of those happier times, the pillow fights, the tea parties with our Triumvirate dolls. I can't let her fade out of my life, lose contact with my best friend who has been with me through everything.

She's why I am going to Winslow and not Arcadia. I hope she doesn't distance herself from me because of all my Ward activities or my maintenance of my cover like I'm some secret spy or something. I need to make sure to tell her everything, no secrets from her. I can't lose her as a friend.

"May I present to you…."

There's my cue. I really wonder how Director Piggot got forced into doing that introduction by Mr Chambers. I thought it was a bit corny, but he insisted it was to set a tone of ease and reduce any tension in the crowd before hitting them with my dark outfit and attitude.

I checked my costume one last time and shifted my form. Everything turned black, white and gold around me as I embraced my shadow state. I pulled out my bo staff from its harness across my back and stepped into the shadows that I was standing in behind the stage the PRT had set up in the centre of town. The fact there were bright spotlights trained on Director Piggot helped a lot with the shadows. Mr Chambers probably planned that.

"….Shadowdancer!"

I had practiced this several times before, knew the exact square of shadow on the wall that was created by the spotlights just to the left and above Director Piggot's right arm and the exact distance above the stage my point of appearance was. I deftly hopped out of the shadow and landed softly in a standard heroic three-point landing, with my bo staff extended out defensively in my free hand. That move took me four days to perfect.

I shifted out of my shadow form slowly, sighing internally at the shrieks and screams that accompanied my appearance. I stood up straight and walked up to the podium as Director Piggot backed away. A murmur gradually spread through the gathering of media representatives and cameras flashes started to go off, blinding me. My body itched as the flashes when off, irritating me.

"Greetings," I said in a tinkertech-modified voice that made me sound older than I was. "I prowl through the darkness, I police that which is hidden away. I am one with the shadow. I am Shadowdancer. "

I held the rather stoic look on my face that Mr Chambers had me practice in front of the mirror for ages.

"Any questions?"

I was hit by a deluge of sound as reporters from the local stations and from newspapers I didn't even know existed shouted out questions.

Did I say I hated attention?


	7. Chapter 7 – Hate at first sight

**Chapter 7 – Hate at first sight**

I looked up at the clock tower standing over the entrance to Winslow High, the hands on the clock showed five oh two despite it being nine in the morning. In fact, the hands of the clock had not moved in all the time I have been standing here looking at it, and I was sure I have been staring at it for at least five minutes now. I wondered why no one had ever fixed it and what kind of school would allow the school's clock tower to remain broken.

The steps leading up to the entrance were dirty and under-maintained, the cracks in the concrete and the sun-dried splotches of bird droppings were just as disgusting as the intrusion of cockroaches I saw skittering past the weathered double doors that guarded the main hallway into the school. Yes, the collective noun for cockroaches was 'intrusion'. Mum taught me many things about the English language when I was young and it is times like this when I remember what she taught me that makes me miss her all the more.

I wonder what she would think of what I have become. A Ward, a hero, a Wilderness & Wildlife Club Student Liaison…. Sigh. A new phase of life, the high school experience and she isn't here to share it with me. I truly miss her.

This school was a dump. There was no security guards, the metal detectors around the school looked like they wouldn't even detect a tank rolling pass them, students dressed in all variety of gang colours and sporting various gang emblems or symbols walked about like they owned the place. I even saw what I think was a senior trying to sell drugs to other students under the bleachers next to the football field.

"Heya, Taylor" Emma's chirpy voice interrupted my thoughts. "All ready to face the perils and doom that is life in high school?"

I raised one eyebrow at her in a ' _You being serious, Girl?'_ look. "Nothing compared to what I've been through the last week, Ems. Nothing at all." I whispered to her. "They actually had me… " I looked left and right to check for any eavesdroppers before continuing "learning how to be all serious and broody from Armsmaster himself. I mean, it's not even a façade he does for the cameras and the public, he really has no people skills. It was terrible. If they didn't fit so well, I may have burnt all of my Armsmaster peripherals and clothing in protest and frustration."

"Well, it's like they said," Emma replied in a whisper, "You should never meet your heroes face to face. You'll always be disappointed."

Both of us laughed as we walked together into the school building and towards the Main Hall for Freshman briefing.

Emma and I sat down together near the front of the hall, given that by the time we arrived, the entire back of the hall was filled with people - I wouldn't even dare to call them 'students' - decked out in clan colours, smoking and playing around with knives and knuckle-dusters in broad daylight. It was as if the hall was filled with extras from a cop drama show standing around waiting for their turn in front of the camera as perpetrators about to be processed.

I never knew the situation in Winslow was this bad, I wished I could do something, anything, to round up these hooligans without blowing my cover. I began to wonder if it was a good idea coming here with Emma instead of asking for her to be transferred to Arcadia to join me and the other Wards. The mere knowledge of the presence of Wards in Arcadia, even if no one knew who they were, and the cost of studying and strict discipline at Immaculata must have forced all the young gang members here. It's a literal cesspool of scom and villainy, a breeding ground for the gangs here, and Emma and I are stuck here till college. Yay…

"Hem hem, is this on?" a woman with dirty blond, bowl-cut haircut and in a rather faded black power suit had taken to the podium on stage. "Good afternoon, young ladies and gentlemen, I am Principal Blackwell, and I wish to welcome you to Winslow high, home of the Winslow Terriers and holder of multiple regional Track event records"

She proceeded to introduce the rest of the staff and talk about the school motto – "Studiosa vigilantique*" – and about the rules of conduct she expected from us. The latter was received with much booing and hissing from the rear end of the hall. Many of the young gangsters had already left the comforts of their chairs and were huddled close to the back wall of the hall, chatting amongst themselves and sneering at other groups around them.

"I know that the lot of you at the back have heard this many times over the many combined years you all have been retained in the school system, but I would ask that you let the other students that want to be here listen." Principal Blackwell said tersely, staring at all the hooligans arrayed at the back of the room. It was met with derisive laughter from all the gangmembers.

"As I was saying," Principal Blackwell continued, unfazed by the response, "we do not tolerate the display of gang symbols or colours, the use of the school facilities as a place to settle gang-related problems, physically or verbally, or as a recruiting ground for members. Anyone found flouting any of these rules WILL be arrested by campus security and brought to the police."

Given that I have not seen any form of security yet, I wondered if it was merely an empty threat or if the security were in plain-clothes and disguised as non-teaching staff. The former would only work until someone tests the boundary and finds no action taken, then chaos would ensue once the word got round that there it was just a bluff. The latter would cause the gangs to take more covert action and drive the gang activities 'underground', making it harder to eradicate in the long run.

I began to wonder why she does not have an actual, visible security force - one that can perform visual deterrence of gang activities and stop the offences overtly while still having a small group of 'undercover' ones to watch the halls and catch the activities that went on when they thought no one was watching - when I was suddenly brought out of my musing by a loud shriek from the stage and laughter all around me, even Emma, quiet as she had been all this while, had started giggling beside me.

I looked up and saw that Principal Blackwell was currently sporting a large wad of wet tissue, presumably from extensive application of saliva, right smack on her forehead. Her death glare panning across the room and her verbal threats of extensive disciplinary action just proved that she had no idea who was the one that had launched the offending missile. I was going to spend my high school years here? In this school?

Sigh. And I thought I was so clever in asking to stay with Winslow because Emma was here. I should have asked them to move Emma and me to Arcadia together. But then I guess this way the PRT has at least someone on the "inside" to alert them to any gang problems in Winslow. I took a deep breath and tried to relax as the principal started another tirade on 'proper behaviour'.

Then, my phone vibrated in my pocket and my mood changed immediately. I only had one cell phone on me, my Ward one. And for the PRT to call me during school hours meant I was needed. That meant I was going to go out on my first outing as a Ward.

I immediately pulled out my phone and opened the new text message, ignoring the debacle that was happening on stage.

 _Sixth and Grand. Hostage situation. Transport sch carpk in 5._ It said.

I smiled. I didn't know why, but it felt good to be needed, to get out of the circus that was this first day of school, to be away from kids that were part of the gangs that made me what I am that night in the alleyway.

I turned to Emma, who had noticed me check my phone and was now looking at me with a curious but frightened look. "I gotta go. Work. Tell the teachers that I had to go for some Wilderness & Wildlife Club activity. They will understand." I whispered just loud enough for her to hear while gathering my bag and standing up to leave.

"Jus… just make sure you come back, Tay." Emma whispered back, clearly getting flustered. She still had not gotten over what happened that night in the alleyway, it still plagued her, especially now that she was surrounded by gang members, without me beside her. I made a mental note to find a way to make her stronger, to overcome this weakness of hers as I hefted my bag over my shoulder and walked out of the school hall. Amidst the laughter and blatantly disrespectful yells from the student population at the principal screaming at them from the stage about the school dress code, I did not think I would have been seen leaving by anyone.

 _Except maybe by the cockroaches and ants that infested the lockers here. Eww. This place needs some pest control._ I thought as I walked hurriedly through the insect-ridden corridors and out the main doorway.

I had just walked out of the main school building when an unmarked black van pulled into the school car-park and the side door was thrown wide open as I walked towards it.

If not for the fact I could easily see two PRT troopers seated inside waving me towards them, this scene would have reminded me of those TV show kidnap attempts by the Mafia. I looked around to see if there was anyone in sight before shifting into my shadow state and diving into the nearest shadow, the one under the nearest parked car, and appearing inside the van.

"Shadow Dancer. I'm Agent Lopez and this is Agent Haley" the PRT agent nearest to me said just as I appeared inside the van, clearly unfazed by my use of my powers. They probably have seen all the Protectorate do all sorts of stunts to be overly surprised by my display of powers.

"Just fifteen minutes ago, Glory Girl of New Wave alerted the PRT that her sister appears to have been kidnapped from Arcadia. Glory Girl chased the kidnappers to what appears to be an office building before losing track of them inside the building." Agent Lopez briefed as he drove the van off.

"Glory Girl. She's Brandish's daughter, right? The girl that made the news a couple of weeks ago when she suddenly developed powers during a ball game?" I asked as I used my powers to change into costume while in my shadow state.

"Yup." Agent Lopez nodded.

"And her sister Panacea, the new healer, was kidnapped?"

"Yup." Agent Lopez nodded again.

"And you're bringing me to a kidnap scene by dragging me from school in a black unmarked van?"

"Yup." Agent Haley smiled and nodded.

"The irony isn't lost on you, right?"

"Yup." Agent Haley's smile widened further.

"You guys are really weird for PRT troopers."

"We try our best to provide the best entertainment. More for us than for you. But we have found it helps to ease the tension felt by you Wards when getting pulled out from class when we make things interesting." Agent Haley replied, struggling to hold back laughter.

"Back to business, girls…. "Agent Lopez cut in before we diverted too much and handed me a standard in-ear comms device. I plugged it into my ear and turned it on. "Shadow Dancer checking in." I said.

"Good. Triumph here." I heard over the comms device almost immediately, "I'm also on my way to Sixth and Grand to meet up with Glory Girl.

"From what I know, there were at least three perpetrators sighted by Glory Girl that was at the scene and we are assuming they are armed and potentially dangerous. We do not know where in the building they are holed up so we need you to slowly scout the building in your shadow state when you arrive."

"The other Wards are unable to help since the entire Arcadia is on lockdown after the kidnapping and pulling them out for this mission would be too obvious. Vista's at home right now as her school ended earlier and I would rather not pull her away from her parents."

"So. I get a solo infiltration mission on my debut? Cool." I quipped.

"I'll be there on the ground, so not really a solo outing, but yes, you get to go in alone. Scout out the positions of the perpetrators and alert us. Don't take any offensive action. The SWAT team will be at the scene when you arrive, so leave it to the police to handle the kidnappers. We're only Wards, we don't have any authority to arrest the kidnappers." Triumph replied, all business-like.

"Yes, sir! I hear and obey, sir!" I joked.

"It's your first outing, Shadow Dancer, take it seriously or else no one will take you seriously in the future. First impressions count." Triumph sighed theatrically on the comms. "And behave, this is an open channel that all the PRT personnel on the scene and the people managing Ops back at Base is on. It won't do you any favours if you make a fool of yourself. It didn't do Clockblocker any good, I tell you that."

"Roger." I replied, pouting at being told off.

"Slip into the building and start searching for the kidnappers from the bottom floor up while the troopers watch the doors on the ground floor. This way the kidnappers can't escape through any sewer entrances without going past you and any aerial exit will be monitored by me and Glory Girl. What is your ETA?" Triumph asked.

I looked to Agent Haley who just pointed out the front windscreen at the gathering of PRT troopers half a block in front of us before deftly manoeuvring the car into a parking lot and stopping.

"I'm already here. Going shadow and infiltrating." I said and shifted into my shadow state, looked for the closest pool of golden light and dived in, appearing inside the building's ground in a flash.

I looked around and saw rows and rows of mannequins and cardboard boxes labelled Henrick's Exports but no sight or sound of any living thing down here. It helped tremendously that I could see in complete darkness in my shadow state and that, unless the kidnappers were capes, there was no chance they would be holed up in here without any lights.

Given the darkness all around, I just needed to take a step forward and I appeared from behind a cupboard on the ground floor and looked about carefully. I saw many sets of footprints in the dust on the floor and erratic drag marks on the floor leading to the central lift system.

"SD here," I whispered as I activated my comm piece, "The basement is clear and I see signs of about three men dragging something or someone into the central lift."

"The place should be abandoned and there shouldn't be any power supply." Triumph responded, "This building seems to be more than just a convenient location for the kidnappers to hide in, if they can turn on the electrical supply for the lift without anyone in Town Hall knowing, then this may be a bigger and better planned kidnapping than we have assumed it to be."

"So….. SD, continue your scouting to the floors above but be on high alert, if they had planned to use this location as a hideout, there may be a chance you'll encounter some counter-intrusion measures. I'll have the troopers secure the first floor slowly and alert Bomb Disposal just in case."

"Roger. SD over and out." I whispered into the comms as I shadow jumped up through the ceiling of the ground floor and appearing inside the ventilation duct on the next floor.

I slowly stuck my head out from the cast iron duct in my shadow form and looked about. There were rows and rows of open doors to the sides of the corridor the duct was above with a cross junction just to my left, but all of the 'walls' to these side offices reached just short the ceiling, allowing the water pipes and electrical wiring to go through from room to room. That piping gap served as a perfect path for me to crawl through and still have a full view of the area below so I shadow jumped unto the pipes and begun a slow crawl along the electrical ducts. As I went from room to room, I felt like I was a cat stalking its prey and it exhilarated me.

I slowly cleared the first and second floors, noting that nothing in the abandoned offices had been disturbed, meaning the kidnappers were on the top floor of the building, and I reported in as such.

As I got to the third and top-most level of the building, I could hear voices echoing through the hallways. "SD to Control, targets are on the top floor, repeat, the top floor of the building. Approaching to observe." I whispered into my comms piece.

"Roger that, SD, approach with caution, do not engage. We are having troopers entering in slowly from the ground floor to try to cut off egress, so keep your eyes out for them." Triumph replied.

As I moved closer to the voices through the ventilation shafts on the roof, I began to make out what was being said.

"Dammit, girl," a gruff voice, clearly angry, said "you WILL heal my friend and you WILL do it willingly!"

"No. I will not give in the demands of kidnappers!" a female voice, Panacea's, replied. "Why don't you just go through normal channels like everyone else?"

"Because, sweetie, my friend can't move and can't be seen in public and it's not as if I can make a call to you and ask you to do house calls to a random location without garnering attention from the authorities."

"And kidnapping me isn't getting attention? Teleporting me out of school grounds, with three gun carrying goons isn't getting attention? And don't get me started on that top hat of yours…"

I reached the room they were all in and peeped down from the rafters. A mousy-haired girl, which I assumed was Panacea, was tied up to a chair with rope, a man in a black tuxedo-looking suit and a top hat on his head was screaming at her and there were three ski-masked men in bullet-proof vests and armed with automatic machine guns spread out across the room. There were several bags of dry cement and piles of concrete blocks between the group and the stairway, placed neatly to form a barrier that one could possibly hide behind in a gunfight.

"SD to Control, visual contact made. Panacea and four, I repeat four, kidnappers in a room of the eastern end of the top floor. Three of the kidnappers are heavily armed with machine guns and the leader is in a tuxedo of some sorts. They seem to have made a make-shift fortification made on bags of concrete and blocks between them and the stairway." I whispered through comms.

"Roger that, SD. I am coming up with a squad of men past the second floor. I'm silencing them all, so don't be alarmed if the sound in the room suddenly cuts away." Triumph replied.

He could muffle sound too? Makes sense that his power wasn't only shouting loudly, I guess. Powers are bullshit.

Suddenly, the guy in the top hat turns towards the direction of the central stairwell "Shit!" he shouts, "There's a bunch of armed men approaching, we have got to get out of here fast!" The armed goons began to gather towards the leader in the top hat as the leader pulled out a control box with a big red button and grabbed on to Panacea's shoulder as she struggled against the bonds.

There was no way these cretins were going to get away on my watch, not a chance in hell. "SD to Control, they are escaping! They seem to have detected you!" I hissed into the comms as I pulled out my PRT-assigned collapsible staff.

"Damnit, see if you can delay them, SD. But safety first!" Triumph replied and immediately leapt down from the rafters and landed right in front of one of the goons. I swung my staff and took out his legs from under him just as Top Hat shouted out in surprise at my appearance. "Where did you come from?"

I didn't bother to answer him as I shifted back to shadow form and advanced towards him to try to knock out that box in his hands. Now that I was level with him, I could see a red mask covering Top Hat's face that was previously blocked by the rim of his hat. He waved his fingers at me and I instinctively dodged to my left, but nothing happened. The other two goons took up his flanks and lifted their guns up to shoot at me.

The lasers from their guns' laser sights swept up across the floor and one of them brushed past my arm as I continued my tumble left and a sharp pain arced through my arm. I hissed out in pain as I came to a stop on all fours. Those lasers could hurt me? They HURT ME?

I pounced forwards as the armed men opened fire, letting the bullets pass through me harmlessly as I ducked under the laser-sights' beams. The lasers appeared pure white to my sight in shadow-mode and, now that I knew what to look for, was easily avoided. I roared out a war-cry and swung my staff hard once I got into close-combat range with one of the kidnappers. But instead of slamming into his head, my staff ploughed into a bag of dry concrete powder instead, causing it to expel its contents into the air and all over me.

I fell over as the change of target caused me to overextend my hit and I dove into my own shadow on the floor instinctively and shadow-jumped to a few feet to my right to prevent myself from sprawling on the floor.

Looking up, I saw the kidnapper I had attempted to hit appear right beside his tuxedo-outfitted leader and fire into the huge cloud of concrete powder. Luckily I had leapt out of the cloud when I did.

I growled out loud and was about to charge at the kidnappers when suddenly, very loudly, Triumph's voice resound through the room. "Halt! You are surrounded!" I turned around to see that Triumph and the squad of PRT troopers had surrounded the thug I had initially tripped and had their containment foam-guns pointed towards the other kidnappers.

Top Hat simply tipped his hat in my direction and pressed down on the box in his hand. He and the two armed men beside him disappeared in a flash of light.

I shifted back out of my shadow state as I turned towards Triumph, cradling my now-bleeding arm. I turned in the direction of the goon I had tripped earlier to find that he was already tied up in zip-cables by the PRT squad. Triumph looked at me disappointed and must have caught the surprise in my eyes at that because he just pointed at where Panacea was being untied from her chair.

Panacea was staring daggers at me from her seated position, "You! You are a reckless, imbecilic moron! Whatever made you think that attacking people with guns in an enclosed area with hostages was a good idea?!" she shrieked. That was when I realised that her right leg has a bullet wound. A bullet wound that had not been there before. A bullet wound that must have been caused by a stray bullet from when the kidnappers were shooting at me.

Shit.

I had not paid any attention to my surroundings and her safety. After that laser hurt me, all that I was focused on was hurting them back. This was on me.

"Just you wait and see if I heal you in the future, you…you… harridan!" Panacea's shouting echoed through my ears as her finger jabbing in my direction just served to hammer in the guilt. Suddenly, I heard was a loud crash to my left, and a sharp, throbbing pain reverberated through my head as I felt my feet lift off the ground.

As I instinctively turned into shadow to avoid smashing into some crates, I heard a loud "Damn it, Vic, she's on our side!" before my senses left me in the lovely, welcoming darkness.

* - Diligence and watchfulness


	8. Chapter 8 - Shining Light into the Dark

Sorry I have taken a long while to write some more stuff. Work has been a real problem for me and I have had no time to think

up story plots or do any writing, so I apologise for the delay and for the potential poor quality of the work.

And sorry if there were any PMs or messages from last time that I have not answered or addressed.

 **Chapter 8 – Shining Light into the Dark**

 ***Beep*…..*Beep***

Just five more minutes, Dad. Turn off the alarm clock.

 ***Beep*…..*Beep***

I'm not feeling so good, can I just sleep in today, Dad? Please?

 ***Beep*…..*Beep***

Wait. Something's wrong. That's not my clock.

 ***Beep*…..*Beep***

I struggled to open my heavy eyelids and was welcomed with a deluge of light flooding my vision and assailing my eyes. I tried to lift my hands up to shield my face from the bright light but they responded lethargically and painfully, making only a quarter of the way to my face before I was forced to shut my lamination-overwhelmed eyes.

Slowly, but surely, I moved my arms and hands to my face and rubbed my eyes and slowly got them accustomed to the brightness around me.

 ***Beep*…..*Beep***

I looked blurrily around, the best I could do without my spectacles. Everything around me seemed white and shiny and I could make up an IV drip attached to my right arm and a plethora of sensors stuck to my body and extremities, machines beeping and humming were to the left and right of my bed. Curtains surrounded the bed I was lying on and I could not see what was beyond them.

The quality of the bed I was on seemed better than what I have seen in Brockton Bay General the few times I visited it on school trips to learn about the healthcare system and to visit the cancer wards as part of community work. So, either I am at Medhall, the privately-run hospital or I have been moved out of town to some bigger hospital in Boston.

 ***Beep*…..*Beep***

I slowly tested my neck, and toes to see if I lost any mobility in them, since my arms were obviously working from my rather sudden attempt to wake up. Everything seemed fine, a bit numb and aching, but nothing hurts. So why am I…

Oh. Right.

The kidnapping of Panacea, the gunfight, the sudden feeling of being run over by a truck… It's all coming back to me.

 _So, did anyone get the number of that truck?_ I asked myself in jest and started giggling. Hmm, laughing didn't hurt, so I think the truck didn't get me very bad or I'm on the best pain-killers known to Man.

 ***Beep*…..*Beep***

I sat up and inched my way off of the bed and stood up gingerly while using the IV stand for support. Emboldened by the continued lack of pain, I pulled off the sensor patches on my body and edged towards the curtains and pushed past them.

Before me was a large white-walled room with a white door to the left, a grey sofa set with a coffee table in front of me and large ceiling-to-floor windows to the right that look out over what looked like the Ocean. A coffee machine stood on a kitchenette area beyond the sofa and several used mugs were stacked beside it. A brown blanket lay draped over the back of one of the seats and magazines lay strewn across the coffee table.

Then, the sound of a door handle rattling caught my attention and I turned towards the door as it opened.

"You have woken 53.45 minutes faster than my estimates, Miss Hebert. I apologise for not being here when you woke because of that." Armsmaster intoned as he walked in. "This will allow us to complete our debrief approximately 68.41 minutes faster than scheduled and you will be allowed to leave for home to rest further. Are you ready?"

'Err… yes, sir." I replied.

"I have interviewed the PRT troopers present at the scene and examined the footage of their body-cams and ascertained that though you could have been a bit more cautious and defensive in your attempt to prevent the departure of the kidnappers, factoring the defensive aspects of your powers and the command given to you by the ranking member on the scene, no fault for what happened to Panacea can be applied to you. We will schedule a few courses on situational and combat awareness for you in the next few weeks to improve your performance in the future." Armsmaster droned on emotionlessly, like reading from a script or teleprompter. "The body-cams also show the effect the laser sights from the kidnappers had on you. Is there any lasting damage you wish to highlight?"

I had completely forgotten about the sharp pain from the laser sights and looked at my arm and proceeded to swing it about gently. "No, if you did not remind me that I got hit, I would not have remembered. There is seeming no pain or wound where I was hit."

"Noted. Panacea is not seriously injured and has refused to get any healing from us despite our offering. She blames you for the injury, though, despite the fact you did not best and are not at fault for anything that resulted during the fight. Due to Panacea's distress and exclamations directed at you, Glory Girl forced her way out of the holding area she was being held at while the infiltration operation was executed, entered the building through the roof and attacked you, thinking you were the enemy. Glory Girl punched you in the side of your head and caused you to fly bodily into some crates that were piled up at the aside of the room. Triumph successfully calmed both Panacea and Glory Girl down but the damage was already done and you had to be evacuated here, the PRT infirmary, by Velocity. You were diagnosed with concussion and several abrasions and burns."

"As Panacea was not … predisposed to heal you after what had happened, we flew in an alternative healer from San Diego to help and would require you to remain here in this room for another 32.676 minutes for the healing to remain permanent. But it is not the injury you sustained from Glory Girl that worries me.

From analysis of the fight, it has been noted that you, in your 'shadow' form, are seemingly able to be injured by concentrated beams of light that disrupt the integrity your 'shadow' form. The laser beams attached to the semi-automatic weapons that the kidnappers were wielding were regular military-grade laser sights, even if the weapon itself has tinkertech enhancements attached to facilitate the use of tinkertech rounds.

Laser beams are inherently extremely coherent, and I hypothesise that it is this coherency that disrupts your shadow form as there is, physically, no way for a shadow to exist within the laser beam itself. But then most powers do not necessarily need to follow science, so it is just my theory. This occurrence has been registered in your Ward dossier and you are hereby advised to avoid any and all confrontations with Purity or any other manipulators of visible-spectrum energy. Legend will be appraised of your condition if there is any operation that involves New York Protectorate." Armsmaster continues, still in a matter-of-fact tone.

"As you have not been affected by ambient and area-fill lighting so far, you should not be in any danger on a day-to-day basis and only if you wish to test the extent and limitations of what forms of light can affect you will be do so, but I would recommend it as knowing is hoff the beetle."

"Hoff the beetle, sir?" I ask, confused.

Armsmaster slams a gauntleted fist against the side of his helmet. "Apologies, my social interaction phrase generation script appears to be deficient. I will rectify it immediately after this. I mean 'half the battle'. Now back to the debriefing."

Armsmaster got me to describe to him over the next half an hour what had happened earlier today from my perspective and meticulously pointed out ways and means to make my search patterns more efficient and to maximise my use of my quarterstaff in combat while exerting minimise effort throughout my telling. I think he has a script detailing efficient search processes and combat strategies running on his helmet HUD too or something.

"After examining the body-cam footage through various facial recognition software and algorithms, we can confirm with 98.245% certainty that the person you have labelled in your verbal report as 'Top Hat' is the villain called Trickster of the nomadic mercenary group Travellers. Not much is known of the group nor do any extensive details of their powers exist in the PRT database. The details of what you have noted with regards to the teleporting bags of dry concrete powder will be added and will aid us in apprehending them in the future given this additional information." Armsmaster's tone and speech patterns seemed different now. He seemed more mechanical now, less human.

"The debriefing is complete and you are now free to leave, Miss Hebert. Your clothes are in the cupboard near the windows. If you wish to convey any form of thanks to your healer, he is in the room next door resting. Triumph is in the console room if you wish to talk to him and your father is at home waiting for you. He has not been briefed on what happened to you as the situation is still classified given New Wave involvement in your condition, but you are allowed to tell him yourself since you are not bound like the Protectorate is, being the victim." Armsmaster stands up abruptly and turns to leave the room.

I immediately felt bad about not even thinking of calling Dad even once since I woke up in the room and quickly got dressed into what I had had with when I left school to be picked up by the PRT behind the curtains around my bed after locking the door behind Armsmaster.

Walking out of the room after folding up my 'hospital clothes', I peeped into the neighbouring room to thank whoever was there. I saw a short figure in white robes held together golden chain with a goat's head buckle along with a golden goat's head mask with two curling horns fixed to a golden circlet on the face lying down on a bed. "Errr, hi. Thanks for everything, I guess? You ok?" I quipped as I stuck my head into the room.

"Too loud…" the figure moaned in a groggy male voice. "Your concussion was quite severe and it hurts like a herd of elephants doing a breakdance routine in my head right now. Can't wait to pass it off to some gangster or villain tomorrow."

"Waah.. what?" I replied extremely eloquently.

"Name's Scrapegoat. I take your oh-so-fun injuries away from you and, like my name, take them all unto poor little me to bear. Joy, joy, joy. Unless I find some hapless victim to pass this malady on to within the next day or so, I am stuck with your brain-pain until it fades away. Woe is me. " The goat-masked cape moaned, putting his hand dramatically unto his forehead, palm facing outwards.

"Oh…err… sorry?" I said, rather taken aback by the sass.

"Yeah, yeah. That's what they always say. No one ever gets poor Scrapegoat a happy, healthy person to heal away some happiness drug overdose or something. Always with the painful, critically ill ones. No one cares about me, only that they get healed…" Scrapegoat continued complaining ceaselessly.

"You really should put a mask on, by the way. We are all Wards and all, but secret identities are still secret." he added before I could even apologize again. "And, if what I feel like right now is correct, you need to address some anger issues too. Before it's too late."

 _Anger issues? What anger issues?_ I thought. Maybe trying to talk to a semi-concussed guy really isn't a good idea, especially one this snarky. "Err… I think you should rest. Sorry for disturbing you."

"Yeah, yeah… leave the poor concussed and depressed Ward all alone. Whatever…" Scrapegoat moaned some more and flopped over on the bed so his back faced me.

What a douchebag. I slammed the door to the room on the way out, heaved my bag over my shoulders and walked away in a huff.

Now to face Dad. Maybe I should stay in the infirmary a bit longer…?


	9. Interlude α – A Stitch in Time

**Jordisk** – Well, at least that is what I am trying to hint at. I don't know if it was obvious of the times it came out in the previous chapters.

 **Xbox432 & AnimeA55Kicker–** I wasn't planning on talking about the punishments in that chapter because I would think Armsmster wouldn't know nor even try to pry into what Carol does to her own kids unless he was told and Carol sure wouldn't tell Colin anything. Please tell me if I didn't come across right in what I was thinking.

 **Angelfusion** – Panacea, in canon, had a bad opinion of Skitter and Tattletale from the Bank Heist that coloured her interactions with the Undersiders for a long time, that girl has issues and CAN bear a grudge. In my story, I felt that Amy was in a bad mood from being kidnapped by Trickster already, being injured in a rescue attempt just caused her to lash out and pin blame on the best candidate.

 **Aleguille** – Nerf? Really? Breaker power(shadow state)+ Mover Power(shadow jump)+ minor Thinker power (Shadow sense) with a Laser weakness is a nerf? Guess I should write what the Queen of Escalation can do with a nerf-ed power in an upcoming Ward Patrol episode (if I can do it justice).

 **Interlude** **α** **–** **A Stitch in Time**

Matthew Smithson looked at the imposing gates in front of him and cracked his neck and knuckles.

It was time to do what he had to do.

He had been laughed at in school for years for being a nerd, a geek, a "weirdo that wore soiled trousers". He wouldn't stand for it anymore. He had to be a man.

It wasn't his fault that his love for botany caused his trousers to get soil stains each time he sat down by his favourite tree in the park near his school. The soil stains should be a badge of honour! A mark of pride for nature-lovers everywhere!

Philistines, all of them!

Matthew thought that when he moved across the Pond from England three years ago, things would get better, but the kids in America were worse with their insults, more inventive with their pranks. School was hell.

Matthew was glad to be done with his pathetic school filled with bullies and was longing for the new start once he entered Winslow High. He hoped there wouldn't be any bullies there, or at least, if there was, that they would leave him alone.

He signed up for a nature camp for the summer, trying to forget all the emotional scars of the past years and to finally have a chance to be with other nature-lovers out in the wilderness. Together with people of a like mind, who didn't think sepals were friendly fishes or misspelt seals.

He was wrong.

Nature camp was filled with kids whose parents didn't know what to do with them during the summer holidays and wanted somewhere that would keep the kids out of trouble. Almost none of them even liked nature. Matthew made his displeasure at this disappointment known, very vocally, very often.

Many of the campers soon came to dislike Matthew and his constant know-it-all attitude when it came to plants and his constant complaints about the enthusiasm of people around him about nature, so they plotted and they schemed.

Matthew was awoken one day from his bed by a bucket of cold lake water being dumped unto him by his cabin-mates. He woke up screaming bloody murder as the people around him laughed and took pictures. A few of his cabin-mates even ran out to call all the other campers into the cabin to watch him splutter and flail around.

Matthew got out of bed, pointed at the boy still holding on to the empty bucket and demanded an explanation. "What do you dumb apes think you are doing? Try to give me a myocardial infarction?"

As Matthew closed the distance between him and his nearest adversary, another two boys snuck up behind him and emptied a sack of plant fertilizer all over him. It was at this very moment when all the other campers and camp counsellors, summoned by the noise of the fracas, swarmed into the cabin.

Matthew and his cabin mates all turned to look at the newcomers and it was suddenly silent as everyone took in the situation. Then, as one, all the newcomers burst out in laughter at the sight of the wet, freshly fertilised boy, even the camp commander and the counsellors laughed.

An indignant fire of anger burned within Matthew.

Matthew yelled out in rage, pushed past all the bodies in front of him and ran out of the cabin and soon made it out of the camp grounds itself. He soon found himself deep in the forest in front of a huge redwood tree, the biggest he had ever seen before. He wailed, he pounded on the tree as he vented his rage and swore vengeance on his peers, he howled out all the vulgar words in his vocabulary, which mainly consisted of only "Shite", "Bollocks" and "Bloody Hell".

 ** _Trajectory_**

 ** _Agreement._**

Matthew collapsed as images beyond human ken filled his mind. Visions of Galactic Cetacea and Extra-terrestrial Phyla reverberated through the membrane of his hippocampus and his brain changed inexorably. He convulsed on the ground for a minute and then the forest was calm again.

The next day, the camp counsellors had found him motionless by the tree and had carried him back to camp and immediately called for an ambulance to send him to the nearest hospital where he was treated for mild hypothermia, dehydration and quite a few cuts and bruises on his hands and feet.

Matthew just lay there in bed as his parents argued with the camp counsellors and policemen outside his hospital room about compensation and who should bear the cost of the hospital stay. All that crap was meaningless to him, he didn't care about money, all he wanted was recognition, to be accepted by people.

To be recognised as a force to be reckoned with. Those who had disrespected him must pay!

Matthew's anger raged inside of him as he lay on the hospital bed staring out the room door and into the hallway at the camp counsellors outside, when suddenly he felt something touch his shoulder, several somethings in fact. He leapt out of bed in shock and fell hard on the floor.

Matthew slowly picked himself off the ground and peeped back at the top of his bed to investigate what had touched his shoulders. He nearly screamed out in horror when he was greeted with the sight of vines wrapped around the headboard of his bed and pillow and he took a step beck, putting up his hands in a defensive gesture.

The vines on the bed started to twist, writhe and grow in length towards Matthew and a few started to even flower as he retreated further.

 _Stop! Stop!_ He screamed in his mind.

The vines stopped.

Matthew blinked.

He slowly and cautiously edged forward towards the vines and prodded one of the vines gingerly with his finger. When his finger touched the now-dormant vine, his brain was flooded with information about the vine; from the length of the vine in nanometers to the amount of glucose it currently had, from how to instruct the plant to grow in a direction he wanted to how to bring out different traits in the plant to perform different purposes.

Matthew jerked back his finger with a rather loud "Yelp", shocked at the sudden revelations of what the plant could do and what HE could do with it. Slowly, the look of horror on his face turned into a grin of pure evil.

"Revenge!" he whispered to himself as he rubbed his hands together and started to plot, the seeds of vengeance germinating in his mind.

 _Months later_

The intercom in front of Matthew blared out in a tinny robotic voice:

"PRT Headquarters. Please state your purpose of visit.

If you are a Ward or Protectorate member, kindly use the Hero entrance as briefed to you by your supervisor.

If you are here to join a tour of the facilities, the next tour is scheduled for the twelfth of September. You can sign up online on PHO.

If you are a newly triggered parahuman, kindly depress the white button, state your cape name, followed by the phrase "New Cape". If you have not chosen a cape name, you may use the term "Undecided" in its place.

If you are here to make a complaint, press the green button and one of our personnel will come to take your statement.

If you are the media, we are busy, please come back later.

Thank you and have a wonderful day."

Standing before the PRT HQ main gate in a green leotard with real flowers and leaves wrapped around him, Matthew gathered together three honeysuckle vines and made they braid themselves together into a pseudopod and depressed the intercom button as he straightened his back and cracked his knuckles. This was his time to show what he could do. For the people of this lousy town to know who Matthew Smithson was. This was the day he would register himself as a 'Villainous Evil Mastermind' and start having people tremble at his name. Matthew had even spent days just thinking up a villainous name.

"Ahem. I am a new parahumans. I have come to declare myself as a villain called 'Thyme-Lord'. Where do I register myself?"

There was a short delay before an incredulous voice replied Matthew "Sorry? Did you say you're a new … Villain?"

"Yes. I am a new villain, here to register myself as a villain. Kindly open the gates and allow me entry, or do you expect me to tear the gates down to prove my villainous nature?" Matthew replied in the best authoritative, demeaning voice he could muster. Clearly he was talking to a lowly pleb with a low intellect.

"Right, err… Thyme-Lord, is it? Just wait there and we'll prepare a suitable welcome for your lordship, alright?" the voice replied over the intercom.

Matthew smiled. _Finally some recognition!_ he thought to himself as small sections of the gate slid open to reveal multiple nozzles. Nozzles that were all pointed at him.

Within just two seconds, the poor new villain called Thyme-Lord and the plants around him were all foamed before poor plant-covered Matthew could react.

 _Hours later_

Matthew sat in the prison cell of the PRT HQ building cursing and swearing at the world and at any guard that walked by on patrol. "I swear revenge on all of you. How dare you imprison the mighty Thyme Lord! A plague on all your houses!" Matthew screamed out loudly, his voice hoarse and weak after hours of abuse.

Matthew hammered his fists against the walls of his cell despite the pain and the bloody wounds on his knuckles.

 _Why! Why did I lose my first fight so quickly? Why did I let go of the element of surprise so easily. I truly am useless! No friends, no looks, no brains! I am a complete waste of space!_ Mathew screamed in his mind, unable to find the strength to force the words out of his mouth anymore.

Matthew heard the buzz-saws and the chain-saws that were outside, cutting away at his beloved plants that were still there are the main gate. He could only make them grow. Though he could direct that growth, but he could not make then run away, he could not give them sentience. And now they were being killed because of his ineptitude. How he wished he could take back what he did, to not make the mistake he had commited earlier.

 _I am really, really useless. Why was I given this power if I am unable to use it properly? Even with superpowers I cannot take revenge for the hurt and pain this world has caused me! Why_! Matthew was bawling and slamming his head against the cell walls in a huge tantrum. Blood flowed freely from his forehead, mixing with the tears from his eyes, but that did not stop him.

The guard watching the monitors immediately sounded the alarm and a klaxon howl echoed throughout the cell block. Two PRT guards rushed out from their posts and made their way towards Matthew's cell to stop him from harming himself.

 _Why!_ Mathew screamed out, ignoring the sudden sharp pain in his throat as his dry larynx resisted the vibrations coming out of it _WHY! Why give me power only to make me suffer like this?! Give me a SECOND CHANCE! I want to make things right again!_

 ** _Enhancement_** **?**

 ** _Agreement_**

 ** _Expansion_** **!**

When the guards opened the cell door to cell Delta-Romeo/WH-0 to stop him from trying to kill himself, they were all blinded by a bright orange light that encompassed its inhabitant. And when they finally regained their vision, the prisoner was nowhere to be seen and a soft "whorp whorp" sound could be heard slowly fading away.

And the world would never be the same again.


	10. Chapter 9 - The Queen

**Sorry, Work's killing me and I really haven't had ANY time to write anything.**

 **Or read any comments you guys have made. Really sorry.**

 **If the quality of my writing drops... Sigh. I'm sorry (again...)**

* * *

 **Chapter 9 - The Queen**

Emma held her best friend close in a one-armed-hug as they both sat in a quiet corner of the Winslow school canteen. Taylor was blabbering non-stop, arms waving left and right wildly in an effort to accentuate her words with visual aids. It didn't matter that Taylor had just gone through an entire adventure that didn't include Emma, it didn't matter that she would never understand what was truly happening with the amount of information Taylor was omitting to maintain secrecy. All that matters is Taylor was safe and here with her.

Emma felt like just like how a mother felt just sitting at the dinner table listening to her daughter tell her about the 'big adventure' she had in playschool, it didn't matter what really happened, all that mattered was that her charge was by her side. _Would my future husband understand this bond I have with Taylor?_ Emma wondered. _Would he be by my side as I listened to Taylor's stories? Would he understand?_

"….. then he told me to stop them from escaping, so I jumped down and…" Taylor narrated with a whooshing sound that was meant to signify her jumping down from the rafters, "I landed in front of them and they went 'Bang Bang Bang', so I went 'Ahhhhhhh' and dodged to the…" Taylor's smile while demonstrating her skills with prose and onomatopoeia made Emma smile too.

"Taylor." Emma hissed as she noticed a pair of girls walking towards their corner of the canteen. "We have company." Taylor ceased her verbal deluge to her friend and looked up at the newcomers as Emma leaned forward to address the two girls walking towards them.

"Err.. hi. Hope we are not, like, sitting in your favourite seats or something? We would be happy to share if you don't mind." Emma smiled, putting on her most innocent face. Talking non-stop, being all geeky and newly fighting crime? Taylor. Public speaking, acting cute and controlling of the Social Scene? That was all Emma. Her domain.

Emma looked closely at the two girls which had stopped on the other side of the table Taylor and her were one, trying to gather what she could about them. The girl on the left was pale-skinned, rather short, with shoulder length brown hair and was dressed in a bustier top with a sweetheart neckline, a denim jacket and a 'just-there' denim skirt. She had the curves and she knew how to flaunt them, Emma noted mentally, and if she had been just a few more inches taller, this girl could give Emma a run for her money on the modelling scene.

The other girl was dark skinned and taller than Emma, toned muscles showed under the grey tank top and tight jeans she wore. An athlete or a martial arts fighter type, Emma concluded. _Now what would a cute pretty girl and a lean, mean female jock want with us_? Emma asked herself. _Are they a couple? It would be a rather clichéd pairing, a lolita-type and a dyke looking girl._

The dark skinned girl ignored Emma and turned to stare down Taylor, "I saw you yesterday leaving the welcome speech halfway. That shows guts and a whole lot of attitude, girl, it shows that you aren't some rule-abiding goody-two-shoes that's not worth my time. I am trying to stake a claim on the position of Top Bitch of our year and I would like you to be part of my posse. Your girlfriend over here can join too." The other girl added a "Yeah!" at the end of her friend's speech.

Emma's mind nearly hit a Blue-Screen of Derp-ness ™ at the girls' statement. The audacity and preposterousness of what she said! "One, that was soooo not the way to become Top Bitch, a candidate for Top Bitch would need to know how to play to the masses to garner support through words and not through forceful demands, be able hoodwink the teachers into doing what she wants them to do and think and should thus also have a better communication skills and linguistic abilities that you seems to be able to portray." Emma cut in, shaking her index finger in the faces of the two sluts who dared to sully the position of Top Bitch with their gangster attitude. "Two, one does not claim the position of Top Bitch, it is conferred organically through public opinion and the negative social manipulation of other potential candidates' statuses. Three, I am NOT Taylor's girlfriend! I am her friend, her pillar, her confidant and her wing-woman. So, get out of our faces!" Emma ended with a crisp ghetto neck roll.

Taylor stood up and looked right into the dark girl's brown eyes. "My friend has put it more eloquently then I could. I had a valid reason to leave the speech due to extra-curricular activities that I am involved in and this is known to the school administration, so me leaving the school during the speech was not some act of defiance or a non-verbalised insult to the school in general. I'm not the kind of person you think I am." Taylor stretched out her hand slowly, "But let's not let this affect us so early in the school year. Hi, I'm Taylor Hebert, nice to meet you"

Emma followed suit, offering her hand forward to shake "And I am Emma Barnes."

The athlete sneered at the outstretched hands as the short girl beside her began to sweat visibly and grind her teeth. "No!" the dark girl declared as she back handed Taylor and Emma's offered hands. "You are either with us or against us!" This was followed up immediately with a loud "Yeah!" from the shorter girl.

"I am Sophia Hess and this is Madison Clements." Sophia declared. "Yeah" goes Madison beside her. "Remember those names so you know the opportunity you missed when Madison and I rule the roost here." Sophia continued, with Madison interjecting a strained "Yeah!" after.

Taylor shrugged and moved to leave with Emma "I can see when we aren't welcome anymore, the table's all yours, we're leaving." Emma didn't even bother to add anything and just walked away with a toss of her hair.

As they walked out of the cafeteria, Emma turned back to look at Sophia and Madison. Sophia just sat at the vacated table but Madison was slumped on top of the table and she could her Madison moan out "That was so hard…." Something felt off about that Clements girl to Emma. Really off.

Suddenly, Emma noticed movement at the edge of her vision. Looking down, she saw a cluster of cockroaches crawling out of a hole in the ceiling. A shriek nearly made it out of her mouth before she hastily muffled it in order to maintain her dignity, especially when trying make a dignified exit from a room. Emma quickly ran to catch up with Taylor as she headed off to the computer lab for Comp Sci.

* * *

"Wow… so that thing with that Sophia girl happened earlier today…" Taylor said after classes as we walked to the nearby mall together. "I don't understand what she is on about and why she said what she said, but it happened. "

"I didn't want to really validate her and her notions by saying anything back at her, but seemingly you got so pissed off at her and basically lambasted her with what I feel I would have wanted to say."

Emma nodded "I understand. I don't know why, but she pressed all my buttons and I almost think that if Winslow is giving us such a weird second day at school, you should have just demanded to move both of us to Arcadia and save us the hassle of such high school drama."

"High school drama is a requirement for a proper high school experience, Emma. At least we're getting our money's worth of it for our school fees." Taylor joked. "But it is a bit much for me too."

"I agree. Though it's nothing a little retail therapy can't fix. I have been wanting to get a new set of pink tights to go with my dress for a few weeks now. And there's a sale at Henrick's right now!" Emma dragged Taylor off kicking and screaming towards the brightly neon-coloured outlet of hosiery.

After a hour of plundering the various stores of their hard-stocked articles of clothing, Taylor and Emma found their way to the nearest café with their fifteen bags of loot (fourteen and a half of which were Emma's and only half a bag was Taylor's) to recover from their tiring fight against the hordes of bargain-shoppers, only to have their rest disturbed by a sudden intrusion.

"Taylor? What are you doing here?" a voice cut through the thrum and hubbub of the crowd in the café. "School's out for the day already?" Taylor bent over backwards over the chair she was on and saw Dean Stansfield, heir to the highly lucrative Stansfield Stables and Ranch business walking towards her.

"Oh, hi Dean." Taylor replied, "Just taking a well-deserved break after a hard day at school with my friend Emma here."

"A hard day at school? On the second day of term? What is going on at Winslow these days?" Dean laughed.

"Taylor, how do you know Dean Stansfield? I've seen him at the Ranch when my dad brings me to riding classes and once when I did a photoshoot there, but I didn't think you had an opportunity to go there yet." Emma cut in, her face a bit flustered, whether from all the shopping or from Dean's smile, only Emma and God knew.

"Oh. No wonder you seemed a bit familiar, that's where I saw you before." Dean said, flashing his smile ever the more wider. "I'm just involved in the same after-school extra-curricular activities as Taylor, the Nature ….."

Taylor quickly interrupted Dean "What he means is that he, errr, helps out at.. errr. Darn it." but it was too late and Taylor just gave up.

"But the Nature thing is just…. And the only extra stuff you do after school is…. Oh… Emm… Geee!" Emma looked back and forth between Dean and Taylor with her mouth wide open and her eyes sparkling brightly. "You mean… But he's… Am I allowed to ask for an autograph?"

Taylor sighed and turned towards the now flummoxed Dean Stansfield "The only problem with what you just said just now is that my good friend here knows about my 'after-school' activities since she was with me when I, let's just say, got my membership in said activities."

"Calm down, Emma. Or people would be looking at us funny. And this should be covered by the NDAs you signed, I think. So please don't make things difficult for Dean or me, ok?" I added to the happily squealing Emma who was now patting herself down to look for writing apparatus.

"I think I should just not talk when it comes to questions like that next time. Usually my charming smile is enough to distract people from asking too much, but I think I said a bit too much this time." Dean sighed softly as he shook his head at the now distracted Emma.

"Nah, it's fine. If it was anyone else, it would have worked. Just bad luck she already knew about me. But your smile should really be classified as a Weapon of Mass Distraction. Besides, won't your girlfriend be angry with you for smiling at another girl like that?"

"We had an argument and she's not talking to me. It due to..." Dean lowered his voice to a whisper while looking at Emma rummage through her many bags to find a pen and a piece of paper "the fact she blames you for the injuries to her sister, fuelled by the fact Amy has nothing nice to say about you to her. Say what you will, but Panacea does hold a mean grudge. The major scolding she got from Brandish for the mess about the punch and that she's grounded for 2 weeks doesn't help your image in her eyes any. I don't think you have been told yet, but Piggot has even banned her from any New Wave-PRT joint-exercises and activities for the next two months and forced her to attend Impulse Therapy classes if she doesn't want the ban to become permanent"

"Yeah, I guessed as much. Tell her and her sister I'm really sorry. Really, really sorry. I didn't mean to get anyone hurt."

"It's ok, Taylor. It's obvious to everyone that it's not your fault that Amy got hurt, but that it WAS Vicky's fault that you got hurt. I'm on your side in all this.

Anyway, it's the fifth time this month that she's thrown a tantrum and given me the cold shoulder. At least this time it's over a more concrete reason than just about me not agreeing that red looks good on her or whether I should do her Parahuman Science 101 homework for her."

"Thanks" Taylor said weakly. Most of the shopping from the past hour was now strewn all over the floor as Emma continued toss out the contents of the bags in order to look for a pen to use.

"Sometimes I don't know if we should be together, with both of us caught up in our 'after-school activities' separately and with her being so demanding and immature when she doesn't get her way." Dean whispered sadly, "But when I'm spending time with her hanging out and studying together, I just feel content, happy, like we are meant to be. It's a bit confusing sometimes."

"I don't think I'm a good person to ask about relationships", Taylor shrugged, "I've not even found anyone that caught my eye yet, let alone tell you how to manage your girlfriend."

"But you're a girl, and one that isn't only about flowers, unicorns and pink frilly dresses. Maybe you could help decipher Vic's mind for me." Dean smirked, mostly at his own dig at Victoria.

"GOT ONE!" Emma suddenly cut in, pushing a biro and a used receipt right between Dean and Taylor. "Autograph here… Make it out to Emma Barnes." she said as she caught her breath.

"So, guess I will see you tomorrow for after-school walkabout?" Dean whispered to Taylor as he wrote out an autograph to 'his biggest and loudest fan' and handed it to Emma.

"Yeah, guess so. Now go before my friend here asks for a horse ride too." Taylor smiled as Dean sneaked off while Emma hugged the used receipt with Gallant's autograph on its back.

 _'What a weird day this is becoming...'_ Taylor murmured in her own mind. ' _... I blame my concussion_. _Either that or that goat guy_ '.


End file.
